Wings, spellbook and digivices
by Whiteling
Summary: DONE! A group of gifted fairies different from the Winx are reluctantly sent to summer camp as CITs for school children. But then extraordinary events arise, which will bring them and their seven young charges closer, leading them into a whole new world of adventures. Five ocs join our heroes in the first two arcs.
1. The Isle of adventures

**Author's note: **Go easy on me, this is another crossover with several ocs that I've been wanting to post for a long time. Don't worry, it won't just focus on my OC Kylie's partial origin story, but on the Chosen children, the digimon and how they interact with the girls too.

Now for the blunt part, you'll seeing more of:

* five Winx/W.I.T.C.H. ocs of mine and my sisters with transformations from winx club.  
* plus three canon characters from obscure animes in the 3rd arc.

The Winx girls and anything else from the fandom will only be_ mentioned _or _referenced,_ just fair warning. And all questions must be done by PM unless you want a salty reaction. Thank you and enjoy the fic

* * *

Summertime, one of the single greatest words in every language. No school, no homework and no more uncomfortable cramps from badly made chair-desks. Nine long months of anticipation that build up into three wonderful months of fun in the sun.

Except the first mistake the girls made was thinking there wouldn't be a need to think about average day worries such as curfews, tedious extra-curricular activities or teenage drama.

The second mistake was not noticing all the supernatural signs: The summer of 1999 was full of strange occurrences, the climate went completely out of control. Many crops dried out, and other places became flooded. And places that were usually blazing hot in the summer, had suddenly gone dreadfully cold.

But, our story takes place several miles northwest of Tokyo, right where many people were out camping. Among them were the Enchanted Ones and the allies. Despite all of their different personalities, these eight young women had one major thing in common; a quest much greater than the Guardians of Candracar. They were charged with the challenge of keeping the entire universe safe from all kinds of evil. Being empowered with magical abilities allowed them to control not four but seven elements: earth, thunder, air, fire, star, heaven, and water.

It was the Guardians' job to make sure that no evil (human or non-human) crossed the portals found within the Veil. The Winter solstice had weakened the Veil to a great degree. Corrupted humans, creatures of every shape, size and form were able to travel through the Veil, by way of portals, which are like cosmic tunnels. So far, they've done a pretty good job for the past four years, learning their craft from the Wizarding world and it's been an entire school year since the last major threat, which meant they could enjoy summer vacation.

Or so they thought.

The older girls had originally been looking forward to joining several college students to an eventual beachside bonfire party, except their parents had other plans for them in the month of August.

"Oh, no!" The three Pantheon sisters groaned.

"You're sending us away with perfect strangers in the middle of the wilderness?!" Kylie had wailed.

Dr. Jenna Pantheon shook her head at the girls' reactions, "Now, now, I've made arrangements for you to be counselors-in-training for elementary school children. You won't be completely alone, your friends have been signed up also and Dana will joining as a camper alongside her schoolmates."

Unbelievable, it was summer, and it's supposed to be a vacation without an actual job!

"And camping with a number of other kids and teachers I don't know is going to be a drag!" Beth complained.

As the keeper of the Heart, this made the tomboyish and quick-tempered redhead, Beth, the unsuspected (and usually fearless) leader of the team.

"It's not going to be a drag, it's going to be fun. This is a bigger opportunity for you all to get out of the city and enjoy the countryside before you head on off to college. I'm sure you can all find some fun things to do together. And who knows? It could be just about the most exciting summer you've ever had." Dr. Pantheon insisted.

Dana, the youngest of them, with her green eyes and an affinity for animals, cried. "What did you think I was planning to do this summer?"

"Preferably WITH a chaperone, the local wildlife doesn't count." Her mother answered back flatly. "Dana, don't forget you have at least five more years before you finishing schooling."

"But it just won't be the same without…" Dana stopped herself.

The memory of what happened the previous year and the one before that was still fresh in their minds. Even the older girls looked downcast.

Dr. Pantheon sighed, her disposition softening. "I know, but I'm sure they would've wanted you all to live for them."

Obviously, in spite of their unusual gifts, they were all just a group of teenage girls and one preteen with everyday problems as the next. The drama never ends.

The girls had begged and pleaded with their respective parents day after day, but soon their bags were packed and sent to the bus on that fateful day. And so, the reluctant girls were sent off to the temporary school camp (Well, Dana, who was the youngest was signed up as a camper) in noisy crowds that stood before the buses lined up for departure, the children and their respective counselors assembled into their assigned groups as they chattered endlessly.

This is just great. They could be down joining other classmates at the beach meeting eligible college boys, but oh no. Their parents just had to send them off on some lousy summer camp with absolute strangers! What's worse as assistant chaperones, they were going to be working constantly and not have a lot of time to talk to friends or do their own hobbies.

Kylie pushed her sunflower blonde braid off her shoulder for what felt like the umpteenth time that day.

Ahead of her, a grumpy Beth adjusted her backpack and overnight bag before moving through the crowd in search of their friends. Behind her, Dana just jumped off and rushed away as Kylie trudged along with a fatigued sigh.

Now, it was a little hard for Kylie to be around most mortals because there were times she felt like she was sticking out like a sore thumb. You see, she was one of the only half-fairies (besides her foster sisters) while everyone else no-maj (non-magic) born. Adding more to this secret, most of their other friends who knew it this fact, regrettably, lived abroad in different parts of the world. So it was just only the eight girls out camping with a few children they had befriended during their baby-sitting years.

But only time will tell; she is currently searching for a higher purpose. She feels like there's more to see past this world. Luckily she has amazing friends to support her.

Except, it had been years since she or her family had gone camping so frankly, she and Beth were a little rusty. Dana was much more irked at the fact that she wouldn't be able to visit her animal friends in places of her choice.

Sara was leafing through the morning newspaper of their realm. The peculiar world climatic changes had been badgering her and the semi-goth Zaira for days. "That's weird," she paused and looked around the campsite.

"What?" Dana asked.

"It's the global weather changes," said Sara, "In Southwestern Asia they're getting droughts, it hasn't rained in months; in Middle East, it's raining so much there's floods and get this: in the USA, local weather reports that it's the coldest summer yet!"

"Really," Kylie whispered, her almond azure eyes widening in surprise, "That is strange. . ."

"Blame global warming, girls, it worked for me." Kurt, a clumsy but good natured boy from their school said with a shrug.

Sara then comments, "Before I even mentioned this, you've been awfully quiet for a while, Kylie. Something up?"

"Hmm?" The beautiful blonde broke out of her daydream. "Oh, it's nothing. Really."

Theo said, "Girl, you've been acting like this since when we arrived at camp. Having bad dreams?"

"Well. . . . . . Something, but. . . . I'll tell you later," Kylie sighed.

The laid-back mixed race girl and the scholar looked at each other for a second wondering what it was Kylie wasn't telling them right away.

What they didn't know was that it would be the summer of discoveries for all of them, truths, loves, and new allies. Today was just be the beginning of their new adventure.

"How's your left arm?" Zaira abruptly asked Theo as they were being assigned the groups they'd be looking after.

Theo looked solemn. "Sometimes it still hurts." she says sullenly, grabbing ahold of her arm.

"How come we're not sitting together?" Yui questioned.

Haruna shook her head, "We're lucky to even end up in the very same camping trip altogether."

They had been hoping to try and this summer volunteering somewhat fun. So far some of the kids are okay, but this fourth grader in the pink cowboy hat - this Mimi Tachikawa girl was a pain! She complained about every little detail!

Perfect, Lisa's probably living it up at the beach party right now and we're stuck with whiners like this prissy princess! Beth thought ruefully. Well at least maybe one good thing could come out of this: as CITs, Theo and I can break her of that little attitude problem and toughen her up.

A medium blond-haired boy wearing brown gloves and a forest-green, sleeveless turtleneck named Yamato 'Matt' Ishida observed the camp from his spot. A younger blonde boy wearing a green hat and long–sleeved shirt that was the same color as the sleeveless T–shirt Matt was wearing, stood next to him. Although there were many people who spoke to Matt, none of them spoke to the little boy, and the boy himself never waved his hand in greeting at anyone else. He simply stuck to Matt's side as he quietly looked around, grinning broadly at his surroundings.

The situation was as it should be, for this little boy was not a part of this school, and thus was not acquainted with any of the students there. He was Matt's younger brother, Takeru 'T.K.' Takaishi. The reason they had different last names was because the two were now living separately due to their parents' divorce. T.K. was allowed to participate in Matt's school camping trip after receiving special permission from Fujiyama–sensei, the man in charge of organizing it.

Although their faces fell the moment they heard they'd be placed in separate groups. Matt was a part of Beth's group while T.K. was in Kylie's.

Kylie kneeled down to T.K.'s level and lifted his face up to her with a gentle hand, "What's wrong?"  
"My brother and I won't be in the same group." He replied morosely. "We'd already promised Mom we'd stick together."

"Who – or rather, which one is your brother?" Kylie said glancing around.

"Matt." The little boy glanced to where his older brother stood in the group next to them.

"You guys unpack the tent and lay everything out on the ground. And I'll stand here and tell you how to put it up," Beth was telling the group she was in charge of. She had picked up the page of printed instructions that lay on the grass and began to read them.

Matt frowned." Who made you team leader?"

"Who's the CIT here, you or me?" Beth snarked as she undid the tent pack and upended it, so everything fell out onto the grass.

Zaira looked out around the campsite watching everyone either setting tents, carrying their knapsacks or just enjoying the view.

Theo's group had finished setting up their tent.

"I need to shake out my clothes. They must be horribly creased." The whining girl in the pink cowboy hat interrupted, combing her hair with her fingers.

"Ooh—ooh, so are my jeans!" Theo teased in a high, fussy voice. "I'll have to ask Mr. Fujiyama to iron them for me."

The other children laughed. Mimi huffed and glared at the older girl. From her spot, Beth and Dana smirked.

Mimi was actually a very nice, well–behaved girl by nature. It was just that, in some cases, she would respond to the inner logic she had formed within her head with disregard for what was actually said to her during the conversation. It often caused many people – even friends – who were talking with her to become very, very confused and unable to know how to carry on their conversation. In other words, Mimi would get angry, cry, or laugh at the drop of a hat, regardless of what topic they were previously talking about, and the person she had been talking to would be left with absolutely no idea on how to deal with her. That was exactly what was happening right now.

"Has anyone seen a Taichi Kamiya?" Haruna asked around holding a clipboard.

Up on one of the branches, an eleven year old boy with wild brown hair in a blue shirt and goggles atop his head is resting, when a snowflake falls. He wakes up startled. But he wasn't the only one caught by surprise. Over to where Haruna was naming the flowers, one of the elementary school girls in Zaira's group, this one wearing a light-blue bowl-type hat that covers almost all of her red hair. Her name was Sora Takenouchi.

Next, Matt glances up in mild surprise.

At the entrance to one of the camp cabins, a red-haired boy is using a laptop. His full name is Koushiro 'Izzy' Izumi. Mimi Tachikawa, who had been kneeling, stood up as another snowflake falls at her feet.

In the grass, Dana was talking to T.K., having been introduced to him by Kylie as one of her sisters. The two look up as a snowflake falls.

Finally, entering one of the cabins, was a blue-haired kid, Joe Kido, who glances up in confusion.

The snow kept falling, until a snow storm began making everyone take refuge in the cabins or tents. There was a bit of jostling and shuffling about. Just for the sake of peace, Kylie spread her sleeping bag right by the entrance.

Sometime later, the guardians and the seven kids from earlier stepped out of their cabins. Izzy even with Haruna's help, couldn't get internet access and all they heard from the radio was static.

"So what are you counselor, or a camper like us?" Sora had asked the older girls.

"CIT: That's counselor in training, kiddo." Theo replied.

"Ah well," said a bouncy haired Yui raising a hand outside the door-frame to verify, "The storm stopped anyway."

The exclamations from the children standing at the edge of a small hill got their attention. As if on instinct, the older girls grabbed their bags, each one had the right idea of packing useful items in case of emergencies.

But what they saw was not much cause for alarm, but wonder. They look up to see rainbow-colored lights shine in the sky. They're all in awe, as evidenced by their collective sigh.

"How romantic! It's so pretty!" said Mimi

"What-what is it?" questioned Izzy,

"The Aurora Borealis." Sora responded, admiring the view.

"It's the first time I see this." commented Matt.

It's amazing! T.K. piped up.

"This doesn't make sense," Zaira shook her head, "You only see this in Alaska."

"It's very strange to see the Aurora Borealis in Japan." said Izzy.

Sara nodded, "He's right, we're way too far southeast."

"Good point." Sora acknowledged their confusion.

Joe piped up, "I really think we ought to get back inside with the other adults we'll be much safer there."

"True. It wouldn't be much fun if we catch a cold." Matt said gravely.

"We'll some extra blankets," Yui suggested.

She, Haruna and Sara were already walking right back into the cabin.

"Alright, let's all head back…" Zaira started to say but something else caught their eyes.

"Hey, what's that?" said Tai's voice.

Kylie looked up to see light-green vortex through the colorful lights. Everyone looked up and mumbled what was going on.

Then without warning, strange beams of yellow light streaked towards them! Everyone scattered before the small comets hit straight down at their (the seven camping kids) feet, leaving holes in the already thick snow.

Waving her hands to clear the smoke, Beth spoke up. "Sound off! Who's still in one piece?"

"We're alive." Matt said, staying close to T.K.

"That was scary." said Mimi, holding the ends of her pink cowboy hat.

Joe adjusted his glasses, "What- What was that?"

A precautious Izzy crawled towards one of the telltale holes in the ground, "Meteorites?"

To everyone's shock, glowing white lights float up from the holes towards them. Each of the seven kids grab ahold of the mysterious glowing objects.

Sora raised an eyebrow, "What are these?"

Kylie looked over the younger girl's shoulder to see small mechanical objects.

"They aren't cellphones, pagers or anything." said Izzy.

"But they were glowing a second ago. . ." Haruna murmured confusedly.

Theo suddenly elbowed Beth and mumbled out of the corner of her mouth, "They're not the only ones. . . "

Something glowed a bright pink under the redhead's shirt. She pulled out the Heart of Etherea looking dumbstruck.

"Great, NOW you start warning us." Beth muttered to it.

Kylie, however, was still staring at the little devices "What in the magic…" she'd reached a finger towards it.

Instantly, the tiny screens start to shimmer green. Just then they heard something roar.

"Heads up!" Zaira suddenly yelled.

Kylie looked up in time to see an enormous green wall of water suddenly rise up out of the ground. Flecks of white foam splashed at the top of the wave a hundred feet above them.

The gigantic tidal wave split like the Red Sea and rolled toward them. It lifted the eight children and five of the teenagers upwards, carrying them high into the sky.

Kylie could hear Sara, Yui and Haruna's voices crying out for them. "Wait!" "Come back!"

The wave tossed them and turned those picked up back and forth, rolling, falling, screaming… right through a narrow spectrum tunnel, then a dark place with colorful lines and flying around towards a blinding white light at the end.

* * *

The scenery caught Kylie by complete surprise when she first awoke. She was in the middle of the forest somewhere. It was large, bright, and thriving. Its thick canopy and a range of flowers, clashed with the otherwise mundane scenery. A variation of wild sounds added life to the forest, and added to the sounds of the rustling of the leaves and branches of the tree tops in the wind.

Kylie touched the back of her head and slowly got to her feet. Odd. She's never been here before, so why the feeling of déja vu?

A loud buzzing made her look up and see a stream of smoke rising from the jungle.

"Oh!" she whispered. "The others might be in trouble!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she followed the smoke but it was dissipating. Now how would she find them?

Yet she needn't have worried, once she stepped into a clearing just four feet away, she found Sora in front of a tree.

"All clear!" the eleven year old girl said, "No need to hide anymore."

Standing beside her is a small pink creature with large green eyes and a blue flower on its head.

"Sora?" Kylie asked.

Sora turns and smiled, most likely relieved to see at least someone older in the area. "Oh, Kylie you're here too!"

Out of the tree came Tai with a tiny pale flesh-colored head without a nose. Its ears are long and look like cat's tails. It has sharp, jagged little teeth. While Izzy was being tailed by a small, pinkish brown eyed blob with arms but no feet. Behind them came Theo, who'd stopped at the sight of Sora's unusual companion.

"The sound of Kuwagamon is getting further away." said the little flower creature at Sora's heels. Its voice was that of a bright little girl.

"Yeah. Thanks Pyokomon." she said.

Consumed by fascinated curiosity, Kylie crouched down and stroked the little creature's flower a little, making it giggle. "That tickles!"

"How sweet…" Kylie said gently, "And those?" she asked about the others by the boys' feet.

To her surprise, they looked a little sheepish at the sight of her. The little pink one waved, "Call me Motimon, pleased to meet'cha."

"I'm Koromon!" the other one said cheerfully.

Theo nodded, jerking her thumb at the little creatures, "Yeah, when the boys woke up they found these little cuties looking at them."

"It looks like a plant, but she's a friend to… them?" Izzy wondered about Pyokomon, glancing back at the other two.

"I actually love the color combination of her flower." Kylie said gently touching the petals. "From both an artistic and an amateur naturalist point of view."

Then a small, white, guinea pig-like thing with long, thin ears runs into the clearing. In spite of the strange circumstances, Kylie and Theo cooed, "Awww."

Tai, Sora, and Izzy looked astounded. "They're popping up everywhere." Izzy exclaimed.

The white guinea-pig turned to its left and called, "T.K., Dana, over here!"

About six feet away, T.K. and Dana came running out from behind a large tree.

"Coming!" called the little boy in green, "Tokomon, there you are!"

"And he found everyone else too!" Dana cried, clapping her hands in delight.

They're closely followed by Matt, who's holding an orange fuzzball with a fin jutting out of its forehead. Right behind him, are Zaira and Beth, looking relieved to see them.

"Oh good, he found them!" Beth exclaimed.

"Matt, you too?" Tai asked him.

"Tai! I didn't know you'd be here."

"No, I meant that! You got one of those too?"

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. He's..."

Immediately the teenagers begin to gush over Matt's new friend, causing the little critter to bashfully flush. The boy himself was greatly taken aback, probably from the attention the girls were giving his friend.

"Hello. I'm Tsunomon." The furry little thing said shyly.

The guardians smile encouragingly, as they found the little creatures endearing. Already, Theo and Beth were baby talking and fawning over Koromon, Motimon and Pyokomon as any girl would over a lovable baby animal.

T.K., Dana and Tokomon are happily playing together as young children would with new friends, when they hear someone screaming. Joe dashes out of the bushes.

"Help me!" he yelled, "A weird thing is chasing me!"

Up on his shoulder crawled a small, grey seal-thing with orange hair. "I'm no weird thing. I'm called Bukamon."

Joe merely screams some more. Until Beth actually started laughing at his expense.

"Don't be such a wuss, Joey Jojo! The little baby probably thinks you're his parent!" She said, smacking him on the back.

The teasing nickname got a chuckle out of the others. It was enough to get Joe's attention to the other five little creatures next to the others, none of them were as frantic as he was, and began to gradually calm down.

"Wha- What are these things? They're- They're everywhere! What are they?"

Bukamon jumps off Joe's shoulder and onto the ground with the other little creatures.

"We're Digimon!" they chirped together, "Digital monsters."

"Digital monsters?" Kylie asked while the kids gaped in bewilderment.

Did they actually discover new magical creatures? It could be the biggest zoological discovery of the millennium!

"Yeah, Digimon." They chimed in and introduced themselves.

"I'm Koromon."

"Hello I'm Tsunomon."

"I'm Pyokomon."

"My name is Motimon."

"I'm Bukamon."

"And I'm Tokomon."

Then it was the kids turn to explain who they were. Tai went first. "Friends, I'm Tai Kamiya, I'm in fifth year in Odaiba Elementary."

Next he introduced Sora. "She's Sora and in the same year as me."

"A pleasure, I'm Sora Takenouchi." Sora grinned.

"That's Matt, he's in the same year."

"I'm Matt Ishida."

"He's Joe."

"Joe Kido. I'm in sixth year."

"That's Izzy from fourth year."

"I'm Izzy Izumi."

"And next over here is…"

T.K. introduced himself brightly, "T.K. T.K. Takaishi, I'm in second grade."

"So long as we're all introducing ourselves…" Theo piped up casually, "Name's Theo Schaffer. First Year College from abroad."

Beth was next. "Beth Pantheon. Hoping to be a Xenoanthropology major, I want to open a martial arts dojo in the future."

Zaira spoke up, "Zaira Baker. Majoring in law."

Kylie brushed some hairs from her face, "Kylie Pantheon. Zoology and cryptozoology major with a Minor in art."

And last was Dana. "Dana Pantheon. I'll be starting second year of middle school."

However, the girls notice they're missing three of their fellow guardians.

"Uh-oh! Where's Yui and Haruna?"

"Sara's not here, either!" Kylie added worriedly.

Dana speculated, "They must still be back at the camp!"

Sora suddenly recalled, "Speaking of missing, wasn't there another girl with us?"

"Mimi! Mimi Tachikawa's not here!" Izzy added.

"That's right!" Joe remembered, "Mimi from fourth year, I lost sight of her…!"

A young girl's scream, shrill enough to rip a hole through silk, erupted from the forest to their left. That could only have come from Mimi. Together, they all race towards the sound of her voice.

Right in time to see Mimi rush into a clearing, wailing at the top of her lungs. Alongside her was a small four legged digimon with warm brown eyes and a plant on its head. Both were running away with good reason: An unbelievably gigantic stag beetle with a bright red body that was almost harsh on the eyes. The ear–splitting roar of sound and gusts of wind were caused from its enormous wings.

"It's the stag beetle monster!" Izzy yelped.

Next to him, Motimon corrected, "No! It's Kuwagamon!"

The entire group ducked down. Unable to fly that low, the Kuwagamon, passed overhead and into the trees.

Dana covered her head as they dove out of the way, "We've got to do something!"

"Like what?! Just randomly tell these grade schoolers we're magical?" Theo rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, that'll smooth things over."

"That's different, almost everyone else that helped us were already involved in some weird stuff one way or another, but these kids are young and inexperienced. This is life and there are consequences, don't you remember what happened in May of 1998?" Zaira said sternly.

"As if we needed reminding." Beth scowled. Theo was also glaring at her.

Zaira paused momentarily understanding how tactless she sounded. "The thing is, can't we just open up a portal and send us all back?"

"I tried that! But we're all still here!" Beth snapped through gritted teeth.

Nearby, Mimi had fallen to her knees to catch her breath. The little digimon beside her spoke, "Are you alright, Mimi?"

"Tanemon." Mimi said the little plant creature's name softly.

"You've got to get up." Sora kneeled down to the other girl.

Mimi looked up, "Sora, you're here too."

"Duh, we're all in one piece aren't we?" Beth snarked back.

When Mimi saw Theo and Beth were there, she groaned in exasperation.

"It's coming back!" Zaira cried out.

Far away and high in the sky, the children could see the stag beetle monster make a wide U–turn and head in their direction again. The girls, the seven children and their Digimon hurried through the forest, looking for a safe place to hide. Although they couldn't see the sky through the thick layer of trees, they heard the buzz of Kuwagamon's wings in the sky above.

"Can someone please tell me what kind of place is this?!" Joe cried.

Tai straightened up determinedly. "I'm not gonna let myself get beaten by him! No more running away!"

While he didn't know where they were, he was more than sure that he didn't like to be scared half out of his wits by some giant bug exterminator's nightmare.

"Tai, don't! What else can we do?" Sora spoke out.

Matt said pointedly, "She's right. We don't have weapons to fight that thing!"

'Except maybe us.' Kylie thought. She and the girls exchanged meaningful glances. First thing was to get the children to safety then power up and finish up Kuwagamon.

"There's no choice but to run away!" Izzy added.

"Here's a unique idea: You kids and the little critters there go find a place to hide, and we'll hold the bug off!" suggested Theo, referring to herself and the other teens.

With them hidden out of harm's way, it could allow the girls to fight without having to reveal their secret. But the kids weren't too keen on letting the closest things to a grown up disappear from sight. Unconsciously, they felt that they were someone they could depend on.

"What?!" Sora exclaimed in disbelief.

"No!" T.K. cried, grabbing his brother's sleeve.

Mimi shook her head frantically, "You're not leaving us alone out there!"

The kids just pulled them to run away. It wasn't as though the children were going to give the girls a chance to transform unseen and Kuwagamon was getting closer.

So they kept running. Even so, they didn't know if they could keep running away forever. Once they ran out of stamina would be the exact moment they became stag beetle food. As much as they wanted to believe that their smaller selves held more stamina than this monster, they couldn't.

A moment later, the trees ended unexpectedly, and the group found themselves running across a short stretch of open ground. That ground, too, ended sharply—in a cliff overlooking a wide river at least two hundred feet below – which Tai confirmed. They pulled up short.

"We're trapped!" Dana gasped.

The trees behind them shook, and then abruptly vanished as Kuwagamon cut through them like a lawn mower. Once more the kids and teens ducked, barely avoiding the Digimon's slashing jaws. Kuwagamon rose into the air, then curved around for another pass. The creature headed straight for the closest target: Tai.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, Tai had nowhere to run. Beside him, he felt the little Digimon tremble as though gathering his energy.

"Tai!" Koromon shouted.

The little Digimon launched himself into the air. He let loose a round of pink bubbles from his mouth, which blasted against the side of Kuwagamon's red shell. But this time it wasn't enough to stop Kuwagamon. The huge Digimon brushed Koromon aside and continued straight ahead.

Tai leaped out of the way, barely dodging the snapping jaws. Without slowing, Kuwagamon changed targets and swooped toward the rest of the group.

The other six Digimon leaped into the air, each one letting loose a Bubble Blow. Tai and the others would have turned their faces away if they could. But their worry overcame their fear and they looked on. It was obvious that these small Digimon were no match against this enormous stag beetle monster, yet they challenged it to battle. Combined, the energy blasts had more power as they smashed into Kuwagamon's face. The big Digimon roared and lost its balance, spinning off course and crashing into the trees. The monster disappeared from sight among the branches and leaves. The kids waited a moment, but there was no sound. For the moment, at least, Kuwagamon had been defeated.

Sora was the first to turn and look for the small Digimon. She saw them all lying on the ground, exhausted.

"Pyokomon!" she called out.

The kids rushed toward their newfound friends. The teen girls each went to at least one of the children to check up on them and the little digimon.

Tai picked up Koromon. The poor creature looked small and weak.

"Are you nuts? Why did you do it?" Tai asked.

"It's that…I have to protect you." Koromon said in a small voice.

All of the rest of the Digimon were dazed, spent by their short battle with the giant Kuwagamon.

"Tokomon…" T.K. held his little friend in his arms.

"That was very brave of you," Dana said to Tokomon, gently patting his head.

"But that could've gotten you killed!" Zaira rebuked Tsunomon.

Matt agreed but was concerned for Tsunomon. "Hang in there, please."

_ROOOOARRRRR!_

The sound of Kuwagamon's voice filled the air once more. The giant Digimon had recovered from the attack and was about to charge again. Picking up their Digimon, the young friends backed away from the trees. But they could only go a short distance before they reached the edge of the cliff. Tree trunks snapped and branches fell to the ground as Kuwagamon, no longer flying, stepped forward. Each step that he took made the ground tremble. Standing on his massive hind legs, Kuwagamon was at least two stories tall. His huge scissor-hand jaws snapped together.

Beth and the girls exchanged dark looks, and nodded once. No choice, they're going to have to fight right in full view of the children. But in Tai's arms, Koromon stirred. "I have to go. We have to fight!"

"What are you talking about?!" Tai said.

Motimon's eyes popped open. "He's right! That's why we've waited so long…"

"Waited for so long?" Beth wondered. What did he mean?

"Don't do it!" Izzy pleaded.

"I'm going." Pyokomon said determinedly.

Sora looked at the Digimon, who were all still weak from the first battle. "Don't be absurd! Even if you work together, you won't be able to beat him!"

By now, all the Digimon had reawakened, and all of them were struggling to break free of the hands that held them.

"But we have to fight!" Tsunomon yelled from Matt's arms.

"Me too!" Tokomon cried even as T.K. tried to keep him from jumping away.

"And me!" Bukamon shouted with Joe barely able to hold on to him.

"Tanemon, you too?" Mimi asked, looking very serious.

"Yes." The little plant creature nodded.

"Time to fight!"

As one, the little Digimons slipped from the arms of the children and hurled them-selves at Kuwagamon.

"No!" Tai cried. "You'll be killed!"

Beth shook her head, "We'll do the fighting, you stay here!"

"WHAT?!" The kids exclaimed in shock.

First their new small friends were possibly going to fight to the death just for them, now the teen girls and another one of their group were dead-set on doing the same!

Each child felt a pit open in their stomach, deeper than the one that had dropped them into this new world. They'd only known their digimon for a short time, but for such little creatures, they had big hearts.

"Pyokomon!"

"Motimon!"

"Tsunomon!"

"Tokomon!"

"Bukamon!"

"Tanemon!"

"KOROMON!"

Each of the seven children called out the name of their respective partner. If only there were something they could do to help! That very moment, they felt the peculiar devices they'd received start to grow warm. Then flash brightly. As the devices activated, seven streaks of light came down from the heavens and engulfed their Digimon.

For a second, the children lost sight of their Digimon within the bright light. Koromon stopped in his tracks. Suddenly, the little creature called out, "Koromon digivolve to ... Agumon!" The energy beam washed over him, and the Digimon morphed into something larger and tougher, a small green eyed orange dinosaur with sharp claws and powerful jaws.

One by one, the other Digimon transformed as well.

"Pyokomon digivolve to ... Piyomon!" The little flowery bulb turned into a pink bird.

"Motimon digivolve to ... Tentomon!" A quick-legged bug appeared and buzzed its wings, rising eagerly into the air.

"Tsunomon digivolve to ... Gabumon!" The tiny horn-headed fuzzball was replaced by a striped blue creature with fur and claws.

"Tokomon digivolve to ... Patamon!" The little white critter transformed into a tanned and creamy guinea pig creature with long ears in the shape of bat wings.

"Bukamon digivolve to ... Gomamon!" The seal Digimon changed into a white seal with purple stripes.

Tanemon digivolve to ... Palmon!" Mimi's Digimon transformed into a tall plant-like creature.

The kids' jaws dropped much further when they looked at the girls. Seeing them glow in different colors before being enveloped in varying elements.

Crackling purple electricity covered Zaira from toe to head. Until she wore eggplant fingerless gloves, sparkling purplish cropped halter-turtleneck crop top, a matching skort and thigh high violet boots.

White feathers and blue sparks encircled Kylie replacing her clothes with an ivory bodice with silvery lining, a turquoise skirt and white boots.

Dana spun around as a blast of wind and multicolored leaves wrapped around her like a giant ribbon. Her body and limbs lengthened until she was almost as tall as Theo. She wore a neat periwinkle dress with a shimmering pink sash.

Warm orange flames exploded around Theo's body. Until she wore a coral colored outfit that looked straight out of _1001 Arabian nights_.

Hot pink energy surged through Beth before she struck a pose. Wearing blue, lilac and pinkish garments with a heart charm on the side.

What's more: Each of the transformed girls had mid-sized membranous, fluttering wings of different size or colors.

As the magical energy beams faded, seven larger, tougher Digimons and what looked to be five fairies squared off against Kuwagamon.

Tai blinked. "Wh-what just happened?"

"Need a hand?" Beth called out to the seven Digimon

"Sure!" Agumon responded.

They charged. But Kuwagamon was still larger than all of them put together. With one swipe of his claw, he knocked the digimon backward into the dirt. The girls dodged the incoming attack. It seemed at first that the massive creature's claw had torn them apart. But the seven Digimons were tough, and they popped back onto their feet immediately.

Palmon jumped forward and raised her hands. "Poison ivy!" she shouted.

Long tendrils like roots shot out and wrapped themselves around Kuwagamon's legs, holding him down. At the same time, Patamon flapped his little wings upwards. He and Dana nodded then attacked all at once.

"Whirlwind!" Dana moved her hands swiftly to one side causing a strong wind to blow.

"Air Bubble!" Patamon had taken a very deep breath and let loose a powerful gust that blasted the red beetle off balance.

The digivolved monsters did not let up. Tentomon followed the attack with a shot of his Electrical Super Zapper.

"Don't leave me out of it!" Zaira smirked, powering up her own attack. "Electric beam!"

Seeing an opening, Gomamon rolled forward, knocking one of Kuwagamon's legs out from under him.

"Stand back, everyone!" Agumon said. The Digimon filled his lungs with air. "Baby flame!" Agumon blew a blast of fire that scorched the red beetle's face.

Gabumon followed it up immediately with an icy shot of his Blue Blaster, and Piyomon added her Spiral Twister that curved toward Kuwagamon. The combination of blows stunned the giant Digimon, and it roared.

"One more time, together!" Agumon yelled.

The Digimon and five guardians gathered themselves and fired. All their weapons combined to slam into Kuwagamon. Fire and energy exploded against the beetle's chest, throwing him off his feet and slamming him backward into the trees again.

The seven humans were stunned. Although relieved beyond measure, the children did not have a clue to what was going on

"They did it!" Tai whispered. Then he ran forward. "Koromon! Or Agumon, or whoever you are. You did it!" He threw himself into Agumon's arms.

The entire group cheered each greeting their Digimon friend in a different manner. Mimi and T.K. are hugging their partners, Matt is slightly uneasy. Sora was holding Piyomon's wings as though they were hands. Izzy gave Tentomon a thumb's up while Joe was adjusting his glasses looking at Gomamon.

"Guess we did a pretty good job together after all." Theo grinned her arms behind her head.

That was what finally reminded the kids that the girls were still transformed and required to give them some answers.

"Hey, that's right."

The children all turned to the girls with looks of expectation, even the Digimon were eyeing them curiously.

"Explain something to us." Matt demanded suspiciously.

"Is this a place randomly turns humans into…" Izzy looked inquisitive.

"Are you really fairies?" T.K. piped up excitedly.

Oh, right. Basically the girls have A LOT of explaining to do. But their interrogation would have to wait.

Kuwagamon had leaped quickly to its feet. Angrily, it smashed full-grown trees out of its way and lunged forward again. But this time he didn't attack the monsters or the humans themselves. Using his massive scissor-hands, Kuwagamon attacked the cliff itself. The blades of his jaws sank into the ground.

Next thing they knew, heard a loud crack. Eyes flew down to the ledge they were all standing on.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Zaira grumbled just before the ledge completely broke.

The cliff-side plunged toward the river below, taking the humans and Digimon with it.

In effect, that was how the long and exciting summer adventure began… In this manner —sharing laughter and tears, mutual encouragement, and momentary disputes along the way — the guardians, the children and their Digimon set off on a long, long journey.

**_To be continued…_**


	2. The first day

'Go to the summer camp as counselors in training,' they said. 'You'll get some learning experience,' they said.

Not when the kids you're supposed to be looking after become newly made magnets for the mysterious and the supernatural. Seven of the schoolchildren Beth and the older girls were supposed to looking after were guided by mysterious devices to File Island, dragging five of the eight guardians along with them. A place were mysterious creatures – Digital monsters- digimon lived. But soon after their arrival, they were attacked by a ferocious Kuwagamon.

Just as they were driven close to the edge of a cliff, the little creatures following them evolved and the girls transformed, revealing their magical secret to the children.

However, once again, the children were falling. But this time it wasn't into a strange new world. They were plunging down toward a river, with a ton of rock falling all around them.

"Sora!"

"Izzy!"

"T.K.!"

As she and the girls sped up to try and break the children's fall, Kylie caught a glimpse of some of the Digimon, mainly Piyomon, Patamon and Tentomon. The three flying digimon desperately grab onto their human friends trying to fly, slowing their fall. But the combined weight is too much, and they all continue falling. Palmon, holding tightly to Mimi, used her extendable tendrils to hold onto a rock jutting from the cliff face. The rock comes loose from the wall, and follows Palmon and Mimi as they fall.

Zaira just barely caught them with Mimi wrapping one arm around the girl's shoulders and neck.

"Aaugh! Mimi you're choking me!" Zaira gasped, trying to stay in flight.

"I got you, T.K. – you too!" Dana swooped downwards to catch T.K. and his Digimon companion, Patamon.

Theo had caught Izzy. "Whoa there, kiddo!"

"Don't worry I've got you!" Kylie held Sora and Piyomon.

Next to her, Beth was holding Tai and Agumon in each arm separately and was maneuvering in an attempt to catch the other children.

Gomamon, the one who'd been called Pukamon until he'd 'digivolved,' and Joe are the first to hit the water below. The little seal rose up in the water and shouted, "Marching Fishes!"

What happened next was one more amazing event in a day full of wonders. Out of nowhere, fish appeared. Not dozens of fish, or even hundreds, but thousands of fish. Fish swimming- around them, fish swimming under them—so many fish that in moments, Tai and the others were dropped right onto them by the guardians. They were lying on a bed of fish all wriggling and squirming beneath them.

Gomamon urged the fishes to go faster and right in time to avoid the rest of the cliff and Kuwagamon falling into the water almost two feet from them. As a result the river water became choppy, causing waves to form. Waves that soon pushed them along and splashed them onto a riverbank.

For a while the whole group just lay on the shore with-out moving. But they still didn't know where they were, or how they'd arrived, or what these creatures were, let alone the fact that five of the girls with them turned out to be…and finally Tai's curiosity got the best of him. He sat up and looked around.

At the same time, the others also began to stir. Joe mumbled, "What was the deal with all those fishes?"

Gomamon smiled. "Those were my marching fishes. I'm able to control fish at will."

Joe pushed his glasses up on his nose and smiled. "I see, so it was all thanks to you! Thank you Pukamon, I mean…"

"It's Gomamon." The little seal returned the smile.

T.K. stood up and looked over Patamon curiously. "What happened to you, Tokomon?"

"I'm Patamon now." replied the little winged hamster.

"We've evolved." Agumon said as Tai stood up.

Tai asked, "'Evolved?' What's that mean?"

Izzy explained, "Supposedly, it's when organisms in a species go through a vast change…"

"That's right!" Tentomon exclaimed, making Izzy look at him. "From that evolution, I changed from Motimon into Tentomon."

Each of the respective Digimon introduced their new shapes.

"Well, in any case, you guys seem stronger than before. Are you still a Digital Monster, even after you've evolved?" Tai questioned.

"Yep! I'm so glad to have met you, Tai!" Agumon said happily.

"Huh, why?"

"I couldn't digivolve on my own. I'm sure I was able to now because I met you."

Sora kneeled slightly to meet her Digimon's eyes. "Then, is it the same for you, Piyomon?"

"Yes." Piyomon chirped.

Izzy glanced at Tentomon, "Could it be the same for everyone?"

"Yes, it is!"

"It's all thanks to you, Mimi!" Palmon twirled appreciatively.

Mimi sighed, "That's weird. I don't even remember what I did…"

"Can you turn back?" T.K. questioned walking over to Patamon's right side.

Patamon was unsure. "Maybe not."

Kylie looked thoughtful. "Hmm. Actually I could swear there was some magic involved the moment you all changed shape."

"It wasn't just us, your friends got to digivolve too!" Piyomon said excitedly, looking to the older girls.

Right then, the seven kids remembered the five guardians were still there with them, and still in fairy mode.

"What about you five?!" Matt demanded them.

The five girls looked around at all the eyes staring at them either with suspicion or sheer curiosity.

Beth giggled nervously, "Okay… confession time."

T.K. actually stepped over to the youngest of the guardians, his eyes shining in amazement. "Are you some kind of…?"

"Fairy?" Dana smiled brightly, showing off her wings to the eight year old boy.

"Witch, fairy, sorceress… same thing just different origins, classification and motives." Beth explained. "Course too many continuously assume witches use their gifts for darker purposes like the ones in Cloud tower."

Theo shrugged casually, "Hey, powerful women and kids are called a whole LOT of things by fearful bozos."

Joe threw up his hands in exasperation. "Oh, but of course! This is ridiculous, it doesn't take a genius to know they're all out of their minds!"

"Is he serious?" Zaira jerked a thumb at him.

Beth blew a cowlick out of her face in annoyance. Looks like they might need some convincing. She pointed to Matt's shirt. "Make it pink."

Instantaneously, the blonde boy's shirt went from olive green to a shocking pink. Naturally this warranted cries of shock or surprise from the children and their partners.

Dana then turns to Sora and swished her index finger, "And I wanna see what you look like in a ballgown."

This time, Sora's clothes changed into a slim light blue dress with a blue ribbon as a sash and white opera gloves. The fifth grader was completely flabbergasted.

Mimi frowned at the wardrobe change. "Some people have all the luck!"

"Look at these! You think puberty did this?" Theo quipped pointing to her wings and outfit.

"All right, you believe us now?" Beth smirked.

Rendered temporarily speechless, the children stared at the abrupt changes before looking back to the girls, utterly dumbfounded.

"Works for me." Tai nods.

After changing Matt and Sora's clothes to how they were originally (and the guardians returning to civilian mode), the older five girls explained that they were more than just the average witch of fairy, but some appointed magical guardians charged with making doubly sure no great cataclysmic forces disrupt the balance between Earth and the other magical worlds out there.

"Of course the thing is, our powers are pretty much unconventional, and they originate from other well-known elements besides the main five." Zaira was finishing.

Joe frowned and crossed his arms. "This still doesn't make much sense to me."

"It doesn't make much sense to us either." Gomamon said with a shrug.

"I don't like that!" Mimi cried out shrilly. "If that's true, then take me back home! Take me back home to my Papa and Mama right now!"

"Can't you send us all back to summer camp?" Sora asked.

"You think if it was that easy, I wouldn't have done it half an hour ago?!" Beth snapped. "I've been trying since we got here – nothings happens!"

They looked aghast, their hopes dashed.

"What's the point of being magical if you can't teleport anywhere you want?!" Mimi griped.

Beth glared at her. "We're young even by human standards, you think I'm not upset about this?!"

"Apparition isn't possible until we're at least seventeen FYI." Zaira added.

"Furthermore… how many of you get motion sickness from roller coasters?" Theo asked them.

A handful of the children raised their hands uncertainly.

Theo continued. "Apparition feels like you're being shoved and squeezed through a very thin tube. Chances are you'll probably upchuck at the process."

"We're still sort of learning the new stuff…" Dana chimed in

Joe facepalmed. "Great! We're stranded in the middle of a jungle with amateurs!"

"We'll find a way home, where there's a will there's always a way!" Dana said cheerfully.

"And this just brings us back to the main question: what are we going to do now?" Matt reminded them.

Joe spoke up his idea first. "Let's go back to where we came from! We should wait for the adults to come find us."

"Go back to where we started?" Tai repeated.

They all turned to look at the broken cliff they'd been on earlier.

"Even if you tell us that…"

"We've been swept pretty far." Sora added.

"Besides we couldn't possibly climb that mountain." Matt pointed out.

"Then what should we do?" said Joe, his arms still folded. "It's best to look for a road that's useful…"

"What I want to know is where we are?" Matt asked. "It doesn't look like the camp site, no matter where we look."

Izzy acknowledged. "He's right. The vegetation looks like they're from a tropical region."

"It sure does!" Tentomon agreed cheerfully.

"Wait, you know what I'm talking about?"

"No." Izzy visibly sweatdropped at his digimon's answer.

Dana noted. "Well, the place doesn't look like anything like the kingdoms or regions in the magic dimension we've seen."

"Magic dimension?" The children's ears pricked up.

"Kingdoms? How many are there?" Mimi questioned.

Zaira responded without even looking her way. "More than 150 last time I checked."

The other children were absolutely dumbfounded.

"Since we fell here. There should be a road that leads back up there." Joe theorized, not moving from his spot.

Sora took a step forward, "Right. If we go back, we might be able to find clues on why we're here."

"What? But won't there be more monsters like the one we ran into?" Mimi protested.

"Yes, there are." Palmon replied, somewhat oblivious to Mimi's fear.

"You see?"

"I don't want to put anyone in danger…" Matt said in concern.

Tai asked Agumon. "Are there any other humans here?"

"Humans? Like you?" Agumon questioned.

"Yeah."

"I've never see any. There's nothing but Digimon here."

"Only Digimon? But you all sure look different." Tai commented.

"And the variety is the dream of every magizoologist." Kylie remarked, looking around her in wonder.

"If memory serves me, they mentioned that… this is File Island, right?" Sora recalled.

"Are we really on an island?" Matt questioned.

"The word _island_ is more than obvious." Zaira snarked.

Izzy folded his arms thoughtfully, "I've never heard of it."

"This place probably isn't in Japan…" Joe thought aloud in worry.

"Anyways, let's go. There's no point standing around here." Tai began to walk along the river's edge.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Matt ordered.

"I saw the ocean a while ago!" Tai said with a grin.

"The ocean?" Matt questioned.

"Yeah, so let's go see it!"

Matt glance at Sora. "Should we go?"

"Yeah." Sora, the older girls and the children except for Joe started to follow Tai.

"In a case like this, it's best to stay put and wait for the adults to save us." Joe was saying, he hadn't noticed the other were leaving. "That's also the reason why we should go back to…"

"Joe!" Gomamon called out to him. "Hurry up!"

"WAIT!" Joe begun to trot after them.

Now they were all walking along a riverbank, with green trees to their right, and Gomamon swimming in the water to their left.

"I've never seen trees like these…" remarked Sora.

"I thought they were subtropical at first, but it appears I was wrong." Izzy speculated.

"So this probably isn't Japan… they look really strange." Joe commented, he was bringing up the rear.

"Digital Monster… like, electronic monsters?" Izzy said thoughtfully to Tentomon.

"You can just refer to us as Digimon." Tentomon replied.

"You don't appear as electronical as your name suggests."

"What's that, electricity? Like this?" Tentomon started to charge up his Petit Thunder attack.

Needless to say it was too close for Izzy. "Don't do that!" The redhead boy cried in alarm.

T.K. glanced at his partner, "Hey, Patamon, can you fly?"

"Yes, I can fly. Look!" Patamon responded, he started to flap his wings but is slowing down considerably.

"Cool! But I think you're much faster walking."

"I'm much faster than him! Look at me!" Piyomon smiled, but there was no difference in their pace.

"None of you are flying fast." Sora remarked.

Mimi gave Palmon a sidelong glance. "Palmon, you look a nice little plant."

"I am. I can perform photosynthesis." Palmon replied.

Mimi clapped her hands together. "That's neat! Do it, do it!"

Palmon flushed, "Mimi, do you know even what it is?"

"Um, not really. What is it?"

"Well, I don't really know either…"

"Why does that not surprise me?" Beth whispered to Theo.

Tai turned to Agumon. "So, you said there was nothing but Digimon here, right?"

"Yeah."

"So that means Kuwagamon was a Digimon?"

"Yeah."

Izzy speculated, "If there was a big one like him around, there might be others…"

"We've already said there are only Digimon here." Tentomon reminded him.

Kylie glanced around intently, she had been taking notes in small notebook. "I'm more inclined to believe that this is another world, and the digimon are clearly native to this realm while we're merely guests. I've got so many things I want to ask…"

"Getting back on the subject on magic, didn't you mention other worlds?" Izzy looked to the girls.

"There are worlds within worlds, cryptic as it sounds." Zaira explained, "We've just graduated learning our craft."

"Craft?"

"Oh, there are so many things in our world you don't yet know about." Kylie said with a smile.

"In a school overseas for witches and wizards…Yeah, a very long detailed story." Theo said nonchalantly.

"Anywho…" Beth then elaborated, "As magical beings that share traits from both fairies and witches, we graduated from our magical boarding school for witches already. So we opted to putting our newfound knowledge by exploring the side of magic best known to fairy lore. For that end, we just started our first year at a highly recommended college-"

"THEY did." Dana pouted, "Going to school for my second year, I still have four to five years of learning witchcraft and wizardry left before I can enroll to Alfea like the other girls."

"So then that would be seven years of magic school?" T.K. questioned, "That means you were seven years abroad."

Zaira shrugged, "When our parents found out the hard way, they wanted us to have the best education possible."

"Tricky part is even with the witch or wizard's wand, our magical abilities were still pretty much limited." Dana added.

Beth then cleared her throat. "To increase magical abilities, fairies can transform, revealing their wings and new clothes and accessories, and are able to use their powers with greater ease. We've all just managed our fairy form without the Heart of Etherea, but we literally still have a lot to learn to get to the primary ones."

Tai blinked. "Primary? How many levels are there?"

Zaira looked solemn, "There are standard fairy levels, three which are gained during a fairy's formal education/journey to become a full-fledged fairy, so far we only managed… the first two."

"However there is an _infinite_ number of higher fairy levels and acquired powers meant for specific situations." Beth then grinned at the thought, "That I anxiously look forward to seeing."

Gabumon paused, his nose twitching. "I can smell salt, the ocean is close by."

Then Gomamon stopped where was, confirming Gabumon's claim. "And I can see! It's the ocean!"

It was the ocean. Taichi peered through the round lens of his mini–telescope as he gazed at the horizon where the marine blue of the sea and the azure blue of the sky melted together. The feel of the waves as they crested felt as lukewarm as a heated swimming pool, and the air smelled salty. As the group reached the beach, they heard the last sound they expected to hear. It was a telephone ringing.

Hurrying over a sand dune, they saw a string of telephone booths lined up right near the water's edge. It was strange enough to see five telephone booths on the beach. Telephone booths in the middle of nowhere—and one of them was ringing!

Tai sprinted forward. But by the time he reached he first booth, the ringing had stopped.

Zaira looked at them skeptically. "What I want to know is how can there be telephone booths here on the beach when there's obviously no power lines or any power source?"

"Even so, they do look like the phone booths we usually see…" Matt commented.

Mimi agreed. "They're the same as the ones next to my house."

"So that means… We must still be in Japan!" Joe said determinedly.

"Japan? Joe, what's that?" Gomamon asked.

"…Maybe we're someplace else." Joe said flatly.

Theo rolled her eyes. "Good hunch, dude."

"Izzy, lend me 10 yen." Tai asked him.

"What are you going to do?" questioned Izzy.

"What else? I'm calling home."

"Oh, then you can use my phone card for that." The boy handed him his phone card.

"I need to call Mom!" T.K. rushed forward.

Before long, all the other children were joining in except for the girls. Tai punched in his home phone number. The phone rang, and someone answered. But the female voice that came sounded like a recording. All it said was, "The time is now 35:82:90 AM. Beep. Beep. Beep. BEEP!"

No matter what number they dialed the children received a similar or useless message. Joe was the only one who refused to give up and continued dialing.

"He's pretty persistent." Izzy commented.

"That's how he is." replied Tai.

"No matter where we call, the only thing we get is random information." Matt surmised.

Beth shrugged. "Good thing our change is back in our sleeping bags."

"Then let's give up and get a move on." Tai insisted as he got up off of the ground.

Matt looked to him, "Wait a second. Even if we can't call, there might be someone who'll call us. Like the one earlier."

Tai thought otherwise. "It's a waste of time staying here."

"It won't hurt to keep an eye out here. Besides, everyone's tired!"

"We're all kind of hungry as well." added Izzy.

"Well, either way, none of us haven't had lunch yet… Alright, let's take a break!" Tai announced.

"Does anyone have anything to eat? All I have is this…" Sora had began to open her small bag then noticed the strange device they'd seen fall from the sky firmly clipped on her belt. "This is the thing that came falling from the sky…"

All the children confirmed that they have a device.

Matt observed. "Looks like everyone is holding one."

"I don't get it, how come you guys get the cute little magical creatures and the weird machines but we don't?" Dana scratched her head in confusion.

"Beats me." T.K. shrugged. "How come some girls with magic get wings that are called fairies but the boys over there only use wands or other stuff?"

Dana gasped. "Hey, that's a good point."

By this point, the seven kids had started going through their belongings to see what they had. All of them still had the little digital devices that had crashed into the earth just before their adventure began, but other than that they didn't have much.

"I wonder what these things are…" Izzy wondered only for his stomach to start growling. "Anyways, we were talking about food, weren't we?"

Sora revealed what she carried in her small pouch bag. "Well, all I have is a travel-size first aid kit. It has adhesive tape, disinfectant, and some thread and needles."

"I have my laptop, digital camera, and a cell phone… But since I've come here, none of them work. I thought I still had some battery left." Izzy explained. He'd attempted to use his cell phone and laptop to investigate earlier, but neither of them worked. And that was odd, he'd thought he'd still had a lot of battery life left over.

"Oh, me? Just this. A mini-telescope." Tai revealed.

"I didn't bring any food either." Matt shrugged.

Little T.K. stepped forward, smiling. "Look what I've got!"

Cheerfully he opened his green backpack to show that it was filled with candy and chips.

"Candy! It looks so tasty!" Mimi grinned with delight. "But wait, you're not from our school, are you?"

"Nope. Since it's summer vacation, I came to visit my brother. Right, Onii-chan?" T.K. smiled at Matt.

The older blonde boy looked sheepish. "Uh, y-yeah…"

Tai wondered why T.K. was calling Matt that word, when they have two different last names. Next Mimi opened her bag at Sora's questioning, "I have this solid fuel, a Swiss army knife, a compass, a flashlight, and some other items."

"Hey what about you five witch – er, fairy, whatever you are?" Tai then glanced over at the guardians.

"OK, let's show em."

Beth had a map, scrying crystal, fingerless gloves and five potion phials filled with different liquids that were perfectly labeled.

Zaira brought sunscreen, water purifier, and dragon hide gloves in her small black bag.

Theo had a Walkman, music tapes (Smashmouth, Aaliyah, Whitney Houston, Michael Bolton, All-4-one, and Sinead O connor), and a lighter.

Dana brought some small bags of makeshift vanishing powder, a water bottle, a guide for girl scouts, a small battery powered fan and a number of candy both no-maj and wizarding.

Kylie carried ten water proof bags. In one of them she had a pen and a log for writing, three shrunken books, and a small stash of candy from different brands. She explained that her body usually suffers from low blood sugar, but reassured them that she need only eat three fulfilling meals each day to be fine.

As they were discussing on how much food they had, they just remembered Joe has the emergency supply bag with him (which he was supposed to hand to Mimi). However they would have to ration it wisely to make it last, the digimon fortunately said they could forage for themselves so that their human partners and friends could eat.

"_Digimon_. I remember hearing that word before," Tai suddenly revealed to Izzy and to Kylie.

"From where?" the younger boy questioned.

"I forget, it was like something that caught my attention briefly as I was passing by. Someone did say it."

Now Tai was often forgetful, but he then remembered that it was his little sister, Kari who had said it. He was pretty sure that while they were watching a news report about unusual weather, Kari had said 'Digimon.' But he just didn't want to reveal that little detail just yet.

Night still would not arrive, and even Joe keenly felt the pangs of hunger in his own stomach. They also added the snacks that were in T.K.'s backpack and divided it for seven people. However, it was not guaranteed that they would be able to get home within those days or even at all, so Joe was determined to make the food last as long as possible.

Except Tai and Agumon had impulsively eaten their share for the afternoon so the others would have to wait until nightfall for dinner.

"I won't hand it over." As the leader, Joe accepted that he must act harsh and even at times, unbearable, for everyone's sakes.

Sora quietly went over to Joe just then. "Hey, Joe."

At this point, Joe's high–wired nerves had began to suspect that everyone was planning to steal the food supply from him, so Sora's casual and meaningless words made him feel like he was stepping on the edge of an open Venus flytrap. Naturally, he snapped at her. "What?!"

"About our food supply… could you at least give Matt's brother something? The rest of us will be okay."

Joe searched for the innocent–looking little boy who stuck close to Matt all the time.

In the shade of a cherry blossom tree that was in full bloom (What a cherry blossom tree doing here, and growing in the middle of summer was doing here was beyond him), T.K. was leaning his head against the trunk, looking a little pale.

Next to him sat, not his older brother Matt but Mimi, who didn't want to get sunburned and came to cool herself. Of course, their Digimon partners were with them. Everyone appeared to be worried about T.K.: Matt was fanning him with a long wooden plank that he must have picked up from the beach. A concerned looking Kylie was feeling the little boy's wrist for his pulse. Nearby, Beth was saying something but he couldn't make it out.

Joe gave it some thought. Like Sora, he felt sorry for the younger boy… but his leadership would come into question if he went back on what he'd already firmly decided. Give them an opening and they'll soon be walking all over him. He just couldn't have that. And Joe was all too aware of his own often indecisive personality.

"No," Joe said with a curt turn of his head.

Sora sighed. Dana had approached and put her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. I got some leftover water for T.K., Kylie offered some dried fruit and Zaira gave us the OK to use the water purifier as soon as we find another river or something."

Sora paused and thought perhaps of asking Joe to at least give T.K. his snacks back, but instead shut her mouth into a tight line and walked quietly back to where everyone was under the cherry blossoms.

When they heard what had transpired between her and Joe, Matt and the other children glared coldly in Joe's direction. Growing very uncomfortable under their accusing eyes, Joe drew the bag of emergency food close to him and went to the seashore.

But less then five minutes have gone by when Piyomon stood up straight, her expression having darkened significantly.

Sora looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"Something's coming." The pink bird digimon replied.

There was a faint rumble and Joe screaming. That was when they all spotted the enormous pink sea monster charging open–mouthed behind the older boy, the yellowish tentacles on its head twitching like an erratic sea anemone as it dragged the grey spiral shell it carried on its back. Any ill feelings they had felt had vanished immediately.

Matt rushed forward to help the older boy. Meanwhile, Sora called for her team partner. "Tai! Tai!"

Mimi could only stand there quaking, both hands covering her mouth.

"It's Shellmon!" Tentomon said, rushing forward to join the battle. Agumon did the same.

The Digimon attacked resolutely alongside the transformed guardians, trying to stop the giant hermit crab's movements.

But even with both sides attacking, it wasn't very effective against Shellmon's colossal size.

_Shuuuuuuuuu!_

With a roar — a strange, almost fricative sound — Shellmon blasted out from its mouth a vicious spray of saltwater. The force of the water was not something to shrug at: Agumon and the others were swept away by the great hydraulic pressure.

"Agumon!" Before he even knew what he was doing, Taichi had rushed forward to Agumon's aid.

"Tai?" Beth questioned as she sat up from where she'd been thrown. She saw him running towards Shellmon. "Tai, no!"

The redhead teenager had tried to grab his ankles to pull him back to safety without much luck.

Sitting on top of the fallen Digimon, Shellmon persistently continued spouting water at its surroundings. The telephone booths on the shore that were caught in its sweeping attack fell one after the other and were destroyed. Seeing Tai running straight into danger, Matt yelled, "You idiot!" and chased after him.

Just then, whether purposely or on a whim, Shellmon rolled up the sand on the shore, tossing grains up in the air.

Matt yelped in surprise and stopped running. The sudden sandstorm blinded his vision. And then, they heard Tai scream. The sand settled to reveal him captured within Shellmon's grisly, glistening hand.

One after another, the groups cried out Tai's name.

"Tai!" Agumon also shouted from beneath Shellmon's stomach. But no matter how hard he tried to twist himself free, he couldn't crawl out from there.

Shellmon brought the hand holding the eleven year old boy up to its head. Its eerie, yellow tentacles wriggled below Tai's feet._ Is there a mouth inside those tentacles that'll suck up all my fluids and digest me?_ Tai thought, breaking into a cold sweat.

"Tai!" Agumon continued to cry as he struggled._ I have to protect Tai but I can't! If only Tai wished it, if only he wished for me to become stronger…! _

Several of the tentacles reached up, entwining themselves until they touched Tai's knees.

"Am I… going to die?" he whispered to himself. His instincts vehemently refused to accept that. "No… Help me… Help me, Agumon!"

Tai's device immediately glowed. Its gauge ascended until it broke past the critical point. Rising to a level high up that could not be physically seen in the Digital World, it became a dazzling light when it reached its summit, exploding into what appeared at a glance to look like a bulky, disordered mass of information. This flow of information was at a scale that could rival the galaxy, and pieces of it that reacted to the light were selected.

Each of the small fragments of information glowed as they gathered together and flowed towards a specific point. The tumbling sequence of light became a helix, which rained down invisibly on the data that would equip Agumon. The information describing his form was rewritten in a flash, and it even called in for greater mass until, with a blaze of orange light that looked like flames, he changed shape a second time that day.

"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!"

He succeeded in another evolution. The last time, he had evolved to save his fellow Digimon friends from danger, but now it was solely to protect the children's lives. He looked fierce, like a true dinosaur: A massive, bipedal orange–skinned dinosaur.

Greymon used his three–fingered claws to grab at Shellmon's tentacles, those that held Taichi captive, and thrust the horn that protruded from the headpiece he wore across half of his face into Shellmon's neck.

Its cries this time were not those of wicked triumph but shrieks of pain. While Shellmon writhed about, Greymon saved Tai from Shellmon's grip.

Tai fell loose and would've ended up with possibly some injured limbs had something not swooped in and grabbed him around the waist.

"Better ease up on the dumplings," a girl's familiar voice said. "Ya ain't as light as you look."

He turned to see that it was Theo in her fairy form, fluttering to set him down safely. Except a quick glance told him there something on her sparkling coral garments that wasn't there when she and the other girls fought Kuwagamon.

As she placed him onto the sand, he spotted a jeweled garnet pin in the center of her top and a small bag shaped like a flame hanging from her light orange wrap. Where did she get them?

Theo only flew right back next to Greymon. Both fairy and newly evolved Digimon exchanged brief nods of agreement before they both turned to face Greymon.

Greymon growled low in his throat then opened his mouth emitting a blistering ball of fire at point–blank range. "Megaflame!"

"Dancing flame!" Theo unleashed a beam of dragon-shaped fire at Shellmon.

The respective flames of both scorched the clump of tentacles on its head. A nauseating stench arose from the smoldering tentacles and Tai reflexively covered both his mouth and nose. The threat of two formidable opponents caused Shellmon to retreat back into the sea. It disappeared into the safety of the waters' depths as it raged at them wordlessly with the useless threats of a loser.

Matt and the other children, who had been watching from a distance, put their hands up to their hearts and sighed in relief, when Mimi saw something above her and whispered, "What's that?"

Sora followed her gaze. A black object that looked like a rotating flying saucer was whizzing from their right to their left as it retreated from the coastline.

"Oh, it's a UFO," Mimi said, nodding to herself.

But Sora didn't think so. The object had been round, but also spiky. It looked more to her like a gear.

* * *

Right after an hour of climbing up a ridge-line overlooking the beach and avoiding two monochromon (a grey armored type dinosaur with a horn) fighting over territory, the group was on the move again.

By dusk, they reached a section of the forest with several street and road signs. Needless to say many of them assumed that they were left here by humans. Except the signs each looked like they were from different regions of the world.

"I'm tired…" Mimi groaned, leaning on a tree. "My calves will get fat."

"Thicker legs are better, Mimi." Agumon told her. "They can support your weight, and you can kick the dirt with them."

"I'm not like you." Mimi protested.

"That's right! Feet that look like plant roots are more beautiful!" Palmon chimed in.

"I don't like that either."

Dana piped up, "Nah. It'd be much cooler if your bottom half was like that of horse then you can you run as fast as you want!"

"No! I don't want that!"

Dana huffed. "Well, you're no fun!"

Beth came up behind Mimi and shoved the pink cowboy hat onto the girl's eyes. "You're such a lazy girl, _Mimada_!"

"Mimada? Where'd you come up with that?" Theo asked her.

"I looked it up for language class, it's Spanish for a kid that's spoiled rotten!" Beth finished, glaring right at Mimi's face.

"You're mean!" Mimi whined.

"And you're a big baby!" Theo scoffed. "You don't even know the true meaning of tired. Try waking up at the crack of dawn to put on your uniform and work from eight to five waiting tables with crazy people to get extra income, its nuts!"

Mimi huffed in irritation.

Izzy was looking at the sun. "The sunset has a very strange color."

"Looks like the day is almost over." Sora guessed correctly.

"What should we do? It'll be dangerous to venture farther in the dark." Izzy worried.

"I smell something!" Tentomon flew up. "I smell it! The smell of fresh water! Ahh, we've got drinking water! It's a lake! A lake! Let's camp over there!"

"I think it's better to camp out to rest." Matt spoke up.

"We're all very tired and hungry." Tai agreed.

The older girls looked round to see Mimi sitting on the ground as well as a tired T.K. sighing with Patamon.

"Uh oh...somebody's got tired little legs!" Theo cooed then went up to pick up the little boy onto her shoulders, surprising him and Matt a little.

"I can see the lake from here!" T.K. pointed excitedly, recovering from the abrupt movement.

"Here. So you won't be too far from him." Dana scooped Patamon up into her arms then jogged to catch up with Theo.

Patamon looked a little taken aback but appreciative. "Uh, thank you."

Mimi looked chagrined. "Oh sure, you're nice to him but not me!"

"You're older, you can take it. He's much younger." Zaira smirked.

Matt was frowning then Beth came up to him.

"How about you, Matty? If you want I'll carry you bridal style." she joked, elbowing him lightly.

The blonde boy blushed, not expecting that. "No. Er, I mean no thanks."

"Well then it's settled, we'll camp out at the lake!" Joe announced.

A few minutes of walking they reached the lake. The setting sun made the water look pink. Strangely there were random power poles sticking out from the center. There was small piece of land connected to the edge with a trolley car on it.

"Wow, what a huge lake!" Piyomon exclaimed.

"This is the best place for camping." Sora nodded.

"Does camping mean we have to sleep outdoors?" asked Mimi

Zaira glared at her, "What, you thought we were going to pull the whole troop Beverly Hills stunt? Or got to a five star hotel? Nope."

"No way."

Just then the buzzing of electricity startled them to turn around and see the top of the trolley car charging up and the head lights turn on.

"What did that?" Kylie wondered.

But of course, it was completely empty much to the kids' shock and disappointment.

Tai questioned. "I don't get this… First the phones at the beach, now this… what's going on?"

"You don't think this will start moving on its own, do you?" Joe was seated in front of the controls.

"I don't think so. For one thing, there're no tracks." Tai answered.

"Not unless it could fly us out of here." Theo shrugged.

Sora was leaning onto the seats, "This place will be comfortable, and I can see myself fall asleep here."

"But why don't we get food first?" Tentomon suggested.

For the very next half hour the group had started preparing for dinner. They'd started eating fish and several edible fruits and other vegetation, courtesy of the Digimon.

"T.K." Matt spoke to the younger boy.

"What is it, Onii-chan?"

"Want me to take the bones out?"

"Just bite through the head and keep going." Tai stepped in.

"Okay." The little boy nodded before starting to eat.

Tai then approached Sora and Beth with a lingering question on his mind. "T.K. calls Matt 'Onii-chan', as in brother. But those two have different last names, why?"

"I don't know."

"I think they ARE siblings by blood, just look at their characteristics." Beth speculated.

Joe then walked up his eyes on the starry night sky. "I was trying to figure out which direction we're in, but I can't find the North Star."

"You're right; I don't see any familiar constellations." acknowledged Sora.

"That's odd… You can only see the North Star from the Northern Hemisphere, right?"

"Then could we be in the Southern Hemisphere?" Sora guess.

Joe shook his head. "It can't be… I don't see the Southern Cross either."

"So what does that mean?" Tai questioned.

"Sleepy, Patamon?" T.K. asked his Digimon partner who was yawning.

Palmon and Gomamon were already dozing off, that meant it should be bedtime for everyone except for those who would be keeping watch by shifts.

"So, shall we decide on a watch order?" Joe proposed.

"Well, it'll be fine if the girls stay out of it." Tai shrugged.

"Hey, don't speak for all of us!" Dana shot back indignantly.

"I mean… the older ones can decide to take turns too." Tai backtracked.

Matt abruptly cut in, "T.K. doesn't have to either."

"I'm fine!" T.K. tugged on his shirt, looking mildly miffed.

"Don't worry about it. Just sleep."

"Would you like to help, T.K.?" Kylie kneeled down to level kindly.

The little boy brightened and he nodded.

"You probably noticed I can be absent minded and I wonder if you and anyone else could remind me to eat something sweet on my scheduled hour." she explained.

Matt, who'd looked dubious by her suggestion at first, softened a little. He remembered what she'd said about her low blood sugar levels that need to be raised by eating at least something with sugar.

"But there's no bedding we can sleep in…" Mimi pointed out.

Then Tai snuck up on Gabumon mischievously. "Hey, Gabumon. Let me borrow your pelt to use as a blanket. I've been dying to see what you look like underneath that. Let me see!"

"Aaah, no! What's the matter with you?!" Gabumon panicked, pulling away

Matt shoved Tai back. "Stop that!"

"What are you doing?"

"Can't you see he doesn't like it?"

"You didn't have to push me for that!"

The two eleven year old boys grabbed each other's shirts ready to fighting.

"Stop it, you two!" cried T.K.

Beth then stomped over grabbing each one by the ear, like a scolding mother. "Tai and Matt… I'm not gonna tolerate fist fists from you two, so behave! Or do I have to put you both in the corner?"

"We're eleven!" They retorted painfully, their ears still in Beth's fingers.

"Then behave like it!" The redhead teenager snapped, releasing them.

The two boys groaned rubbing their ears. While the other children looked a little nervous from Beth's attitude.

"Okay… so then who will be our first lookout?" Joe asked to diffuse the situation.

"I'll do it!" Tai was the first to volunteer.

"I'm next!" Matt added.

"Hey, were the oldest here. No one's taking watch alone." Zaira interrupted.

It was decided Tai would take first watch with Zaira, then Matt with Theo, Izzy with Kylie and finally Joe with Beth.

* * *

In the trolley, everyone else was hunkering down for the night. The Digimon had gathered leaves and other soft plants for a makeshift bedding.

"I've always slept in a bed my whole life." Mimi remarked moodily.

"Be grateful you even found shelter in such a wild place." Sora told her.

They bid each other goodnight. One by one the children closed their eyes and started to fall asleep as did the Digimon except for Matt.

He turned to Gabumon. "Gabumon, I want you to sit next to T.K. When you're next to me, you're giving off heat and it's uncomfortable."

"OK, so you want me to keep T.K. warm?"

"I didn't say that." Matt stood up.

"You're so bashful." Gabumon got up to sit next to the younger boy.

"You are."

Gabumon soon had his furry covered arm wrapped around the little boy. T.K. blinked sleepily then cast his gaze over to Matt. Caught staring, Matt flushed in embarrassment. Especially when he heard barely stifled giggles coming from three of the older girls.

"Aww, you're cute when you blush." Dana teased him in a whisper.

This made Matt blush harder and he rushed out.

* * *

Out by the lake, Tai was splashing water on his face as was Beth, who couldn't sleep yet. They then noticed Matt.

"Oh, Matt. It's too early to switch." Tai commented.

"I couldn't sleep." replied Matt, his back still to them. "Yeah… Tai, sorry about earlier."

"I'm sorry too…"

"I'm always like this… Maybe that's why T.K. is more attached to you…"

"Hey, what is T.K. to you anyways?" Tai asked him.

"We're brothers. Our parents divorced when I was seven, so we're living separately."

"So that's why he calls you Onii-chan…" Tai said aloud.

Matt didn't respond and ran off into one direction.

"But they can still see each other, can't they?" Beth wondered.

"Uhm, Hello! We live in Japan, there IS NO 'shared custody' or 'visitation rights' even with things changing." Zaira reminded her, "The social stigma surrounding divorce is way stronger than in Western societies. When a couple divorces, the kids stay with only one of the parents and usually break all contact with the other parent — sometimes, they never see their father or their mother again."

Beth is shocked. "That's awful."

Moments later, they heard the sound of a harmonica playing a soft melody. Matt was the one playing it.

* * *

The guardians and other children were awakened when the island the trolley car was on began to shake.

"Earthquake!" yelled Theo jumping up.

But that wasn't the case. It was because of an actual yellow headed serpent with a teal body.

"Another monster!" cried Izzy.

Tentomon cried out. "That's Seadramon! He's a fiendish Adult Digimon who strangles his prey with his long body and finishes them with his ferocious Ice Arrow!"

All the commotion had forced them all outside and it got worse as the island was pulled in the same direction as Seadramon.

"The island…It-it's moving!" Agumon yelped.

"It's like Seadramon is pulling this island with him." Izzy gasped.

"This can't be! Seadramon will never attack unless he feels threatened!" Tentomon informed. "You four didn't do anything bad to him, did you?!"

"We didn't do anything!" Beth cried defensively.

Tentomon then landed on some reddish leaf object on the ground… which turned out to be Seadramon's tail.

"That leaf thing was actually his tail!" Tai noticed.

Tentomon almost fell over. "So it _is _your fault!"

"I don't suppose a little healing or an apology is going to help, is it?" Dana suggested weakly.

The movements from Seadramon final had the island crash against the power poles located in the center of the lake.

"We finally stopped." Tai sighed with relief.

"But now we can't escape anywhere!" Izzy wailed.

"Here he comes gain!"

The Digimon all began to fight back as did the guardians once they transformed but much like with Shellmon, the attacks had no effect.

"Agumon, evolve!" Tai told his Digimon.

"I've been trying to, but I can't!"

"Why?"

"I told you, I don't know either!"

"T.K.!" Matt's voice hollered out. They could all see the boy swimming over them with Gabumon.

"Matt, we're over here!" Theo called.

"Onii-chan!" T.K. was yelling. "Onii-chan!"

An abrupt shake from Seadramon had caused T.K. to fall into the water. Gomamon leapt into the water after him, Kylie swooped downwards to help.

Gomamon soon emerged with T.K. on his back and swam towards Kylie.

"Onii-chan!"

"Nice save, Gomamon!" Joe said in relief.

"Matt, hurry!" Tai yelled out.

"I'll take him from here." Kylie reassured Matt.

"Take care of him. Hey! Seadramon, over here!" Matt tries to divert the sea serpent's attention.

Gabumon hits Seadramon with petit fire and Seadramon flings him right out of the water with his tail.

"Gabumon!" Matt yelled before he was suddenly yanked down under water.

"Matt!" They all cried out, T.K.'s was the loudest.

Then they saw Matt pulled out of the water, completely wrapped around by Seadramon's lower body much like a boa constrictor would with its prey.

"This is very bad! Now Seadramon will never let go until he's squeezed the breath out of him!" Tentomon cried.

"Onii-chan!" T.K. cried then turned to his partner, "Patamon, please, save my brother!"

"M-My powers won't work against Seadramon!" The little one admitted. "But Gabumon, maybe you could…"

"It's impossible. I don't have that kind of power…" Gabumon said guiltily.

"Onii-chan!" T.K. sobbed.

"We can't let it end like this!" Beth hollered then flew right towards Seadramon's head.

She threw punch after punch at his face, trying to force him to let go of Matt. As a result, it tried to snap at her with several bites and Beth flitted back and forth to keep away from the jaws.

"Matt! I won't be able to listen to Matt play his harmonica anymore… I won't be able to hear that pretty melody anymore…"

Just then the mysterious item on Matt's belt began to emit a bright green light.

Gabumon screamed. "MATT!"

"Gabumon…!" Matt barely spoke.

Now Gabumon was glowing. "Gabumon digivolve to… GARURUMON!"

Now a large white, blue stripped wolf stood in Gabumon's place. At once, he leapt into action, striking at the section that was constricting Matt, releasing him before biting down into the sea serpent's back.

Beth had halted her punching barrage on Seadramon and called out something before glowing a pink. It didn't seem as though she changed much except, much like Theo had joined Greymon in fighting Shellmon, she'd gotten some small accessories herself.

Only she had a silvery butterfly pin with a pink jewel and a little bag shaped like a winged heart. She flew down and caught Matt before he even hit the water. "Got you!"

Then Beth deposited him onto the island, T.K. ran up to his brother. "Onii-chan, are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. Where's Gabumon?"

They turned to watch the wolf creature and the redhead fairy triumphantly clash with the irate sea snake.

"Energy plasma barrage!"

"Fox Fire!"

The pink shots and blue fire were shot into seadramon's mouth, causing an explosion and sending the sea beast back into the watery depths.

"They did it!" Matt cheered. "Gabumon!"

"Somehow it all worked out." Gabumon said humbly after he changed back.

"If you could evolve, why didn't you do so in the first place?" T.K. threw his arms around him in deep gratitude before doing the same to Beth's legs.

"Thank you for saving us!" He thanked.

"N-Not at all…" Gabumon shyly said.

"You're welcome, kiddo." Beth playfully patted the boy's head. She then ruffled the top of Gabumon's head, causing some of the fur to stick up.

T.K. then turned to his brother, "Also, Onii-chan, thanks a lot!"

"I-It was nothing…" Matt looked away, blushing for the third time.

"You're just too shy." Gabumon said to him.

"Look who's talking."

"I hate to break this moment up, but how do we get back to land?" Joe interrupted.

"Leave that to me!" Gomamon jumped back into the water. "Marching Fishes!"

With the help from the fishes, the island was pushed back to the edge. After that crazy experience, everyone just preferred to sleep on solid ground.

"I'm so tired…" Mimi said drowsily, falling right onto Sora's shoulder. "I'm gonna sleep here."

"We've only spent less than a day here, and she's already gotten stronger." Sora comments.

Beth, who had fallen tiredly onto the ground, replied sarcastically, "Yeah right. And I just achieved Enchantix."

"She'll end up with a solid body like mine in no time." Agumon declared.

"She might even grow nice wings like mine." Piyomon chimed in.

"I don't want that…" Mimi mumbled.

"You don't like anything fun…" Beth grumbled before dozing off.

"There's still plenty of night left, so why don't we follow her lead and get some sleep." Izzy then suggested.

Soon almost everyone else was fast asleep. Matt was playing his harmonica again with T.K., Patamon and Gabumon all clustered together around him.

"Onii-chan…" T.K. said sleepily to Matt. "Thank you."

However that was when the strange dreams began for Kylie.

* * *

_From a dark place, a voice was calling out her name. "Kylie... Kylie... My sweet baby girl…"_

_"Who's that? What's going on?" Kylie looked around her, finding no one and nothing._

_"It's me... Do you remember me? Do you know my voice...?" the voice spoke again. Now she could make out that it was female and silvery._

_Kylie shook her head. "No! And I don't even know your name!"_

_"…I am Sirene." This had been said almost somberly. "Come to me..."_

_"I hear you but I can't see you."_

_Something then gently brushes against Kylie's hand, making her jump._

_"I am here..."_

_Kylie looks up and is nearly blinded by a white-bluish light. When her eyesight adjusted, she could finally see the owner of the voice._

_A tall woman with long, honey blonde hair that was floating around her. She wore a form-fitting, flowing, white dress with a v neckline and shoulderless sleeves. Her eyes were glowing a bright turquoise and her lips were bright red._

_"I'm waiting for you! Come to me... and remember..."_

_"Remember what?"_

_"The time has come, Kyrie. Your journey has already begun."_

_"What journey? What do you mean?"_

_"Be brave! Be very brave!"_

* * *

In the waking world, several of the children were asleep but Dana, Izzy, Zaira, Joe and Tai were standing looking at Kylie watching as she glows in her sleep.

"That's not just a nightmare! Look at her!" Dana whispered.

Izzy stared. "That's amazing! It's like she's transforming in her sleep!"

"What, usually this doesn't happen often with you?" Tai joked.

Zaira shook her head. "No, as a matter of fact this sort of thing has never happened to any of us before. Not even when we first discovered our powers."

She's talking to someone in her sleep and glowing a soft turquoise, her wings keep appearing and reappearing on her back.

"It's a lot more changing here. When this happens in magical beings, it means their powers are growing."

Joe adjusted his glasses. "Yeah… but what does it mean for us? Something good or that things will get worse?"

None could answer the question.

**_To be continued…_**


	3. Evolutions, nymphs & black gears, oh my!

The five guardians accompanying the children should've noticed the pattern in those next few days. Even Izzy brought it to their attention. "I'm curious, why only Gabumon could evolve this time?"

"Could it be because Matt was the one in trouble?" Sora wondered.

"Last time, Agumon evolved just when Tai was being constricted by that Shellmon."

"So they probably evolve when great danger draws near us." Izzy theorized then looked to Beth and Theo. "And where did those extra accessories came from when you transformed to fight?"

Beth grinned. "Remember when we mentioned there was three primary levels for fairies in their education and such?"

Izzy nods. "Yes."

Most of the children and their digimon were now listening attentively.

The redhead tomboy cleared her throat. "They're called Charmix, they make a fairy more powerful and allow her to use magic in more diverse environments. And in our curriculum, earning Charmix is the goal of a second-year fairy."

"To obtain a fairy's supposed to overcome a great personal difficulty, like a strong fear or a kind of weakness holding them back emotionally or physically." Theo added. "The only problem is it can run out of energy and drain its user's magical energy for a few hours."

"So what's the third level?" This time it was Tai who asked the question.

"Enchantix which is considered our final exam for third years." Zaira answered. "According to the older students, the so-called test will find a fairy at a critical moment in time. It requires rescuing someone from our own world and a great sacrifice."

"Sounds big." Joe remarked flatly.

They were all gathered in the sign riddled forest again, this time trying to decide which direction to head to.

"That might be so, but…" Sora then noticed Piyomon nuzzling her affectionately.

"I'm perfectly happy anywhere as long as Sora is there!" said the little pink bird.

"Don't say that… Even if you're a hundred percent happy, it'll be troublesome for me. I can't be held responsible." Sora said uncertainly.

"Hundred percent?" Piyomon had questioned, looking up at her.

"N-Never mind, don't worry about it!"

"Be held responsible?"

"I said, never mind! Don't worry about it." Sora continued not noticing the other children were starting to move out.

Dana walked up reassuringly, "Don't be so modest, I'm sure you'll manage."

"I want to know more about what you're talking about, Sora! Tell me! Okay?" Piyomon piped up.

"You don't need to know that." Sora replied.

"Stop playing around, you two!" Matt called out to them.

"I'm not playing around because I want to!" Sora snapped defensively as she and Piyomon caught up.

"Piyomon is a very sociable Digimon." Tentomon was telling Izzy.

"I see. So each Digimon has a different personality." Izzy speculated.

"Sora! Sora!" Piyomon continued chirping.

Sora was unsure, thinking. '_Can I really get along with a clingy Digimon like her?'_

"But she's still such a sweet little bird." Kylie said gently patting Piyomon, the bird digimon responded by leaning into her hand. The feathers, or rather some very pressed down fur was as soft as cotton.

"Most of the time." Sora groaned.

Finally they reached the end of the forest, about a few meters away was an expansive field of telephone poles but there were no wires connecting them. And now they're wandering through a hot desert.

"This is like the African savannah I once saw on TV." Izzy commented.

"Yeah, but that place has trees, plenty of long grass and other vegetation." Dana told him, "I'd say this feels a lot more like the infamous Kalahari Desert."

"Well, if it is in fact a savannah and not a desert, does that mean there'll be lions and giraffes here?" Tai was asking.

Dana sighed in resignation. "Why do I bother?" Kylie patted her shoulder.

"Don't know. It'll be nice if we saw animals like that though." Matt remarked.

"There aren't any animals like that here." Gabumon spoke up.

"That's correct! There are only Digimon here." Tentomon chimed in.

"Only Digimon, huh?"

"Hey, Izzy, were there telephone poles in the savannah you saw?" Matt asked sarcastically.

"No, there weren't." Izzy replied, he completely missed the sarcasm.

"There must be some people nearby. There has to be!" Joe said insistently.

Tai reminded him, "But it could end up the same as the phone booths at the beach, or the trolley at the lake."

"No, that can't be! There absolutely, _positively_, are people here!"

"Give it a rest, they already told you there are only digimon here." Zaira scoffed. "Everything we found so far are just pure coincidence."

Just then Mimi walked up looking a little more cheerful. "You're wondering, where can we be?" She then pulled out her compass. "Tada!"

Everyone gathered around to see what direction they are only for the compass arrow to start spinning super-fast.

Mimi sputtered. "Ah, what's going on?!"

"Maybe it's busted." Beth snarked.

Izzy kneeled down to pick up the ground in his hand. "Amazing. This looks like sand, but it's actually powdered iron! That's what's attracting the magnet!"

"We really must have come to an unbelievable place." Sora remarked glancing upwards.

"It's also very hot here." Izzy added. "We should get some water as soon as we can."

"Yeah, you're right." Tai nodded.

"What was your first clue?" Beth rolled her eyes.

"WHAT KIND OF PLACE IS THIS?!" Mimi shrieked to the sky.

They all continued walking through the desert, each one feeling the effects of the heat.

"Sora, Sora! Let's keep walking!" Piyomon was attempting to cheer Sora on.

"You're so energetic."

"Sora, Sora!"

"Oh, just cut it out! Right now, I'm really thirsty, tired, and I'm sick of walking, so stop clinging to me! It's making me even more tired!" Sora actually snapped back.

"Sora is tired… I'm sorry. I'll keep quiet." Piyomon's face fell.

"Didn't have to snap at her. I can just carry her for you, if you like." offered Theo gently.

Piyomon looked from the older girl to Sora questioningly.

"Uh no, that's not necessary…" Sora declined politely, then turned to Piyomon. "Fine, fine! You can walk with me."

The little bird perked up immediately, rushing over to Sora and nuzzling her leg. "I'm so happy! Sora, I love you!"

"Aww, that's cute." Theo smiled warmly. Despite acting like a five year old, the little pink bird was actually quite endearing.

Joe then asked. "Are there any old monarchies or is there an actual democracy?"

Beth answered. "Oh, there's plenty kingdoms with their old laws and traditions even if the main capital's pretty modernized."

"Should see the museums over there, there's ten nymphs according to legend that were once the main protectors of the magic dimension before our generation." Theo added.

"Nymphs as protectors?" Matt questioned a little skeptical.

Kylie explained, "Yes, but there are only nine nymphs. According to legend, the Nymphs of Magix were powerful fairies who ruled over the Magic Dimension during the eons following the Great Dragon's disappearance."

Theo shrugged. "Guess you didn't see the mural at the museum then."

"What mural?"

"Originally, there once were ten nymphs. We know that one of them was Daphne, crown princess of Domino…" Theo elaborated.

"What's Domino?" asked T.K.

"One of the oldest kingdoms in the magical realm." Dana replied brightly. "They say that the great dragon chose Domino as its resting place once it had completed creating the rest of the Magic Dimension. Thus entrusting the dragon flame to the realm's royal family, where it had been passed down through generations from heir to heir."

"Oldest kingdoms?" T.K. exchanged stunned glances with Patamon.

"Dragon flame?" questioned Izzy.

"One of the great powers of the magic dimension."

Joe put a hand to his head, trying to process the information. "Where do you come up with this stuff?"

Dana shrugged, "I got bored one school day and just picked up an obscure history book on legendary nymphs, hoping to find out if there were any of them during Grindelwald's time."

Kylie looked to her, "Getting back on the subject, what about the tenth nymph? What happened to her?"

Dana continued. "That's the strangest thing. About three decades ago, rumors flew around that she discovered a new world, one that WASN'T created by the Great dragon. A place she started studying, using magic to produce positive results within the damaged environment alongside its inhabitants. For nearly two years, she had it thriving, and then she disappeared, but no one knows why."

"What was her name?" Kylie asked.

"Sirene."

Kylie paused, looking taken aback and she could've sworn she saw the Digimon give worried, wide-eyed glances. Did they know something she didn't?

"We keep walking and walking, and nothing comes into sight. Maybe, its best if we go back to the forest." Matt suggested.

Tai then pulled out his telescope to look ahead. "I see a village!"

"You _see_?" Joe said delightedly. "A village! There must be people here!"

"In any case, it's worth checking out." said Izzy.

"We're plenty thirsty aren't we, Palmon?" Mimi questioned.

"Yes."

"I'm so hungry…" T.K. groaned.

"Me too, me too!" Patamon chimed in.

"Alright then! Let's head to that village!" Tai declared excitedly.

"Yeah!" The group cheered and marched onwards.

The village in question was located upon a grassy ridge-line next to a large pond that had a tugboat sticking out. However, once they arrived they found out the little huts were much smaller than they thought and that the village belonged to a great number of little Pyokomon, which had been Piyomon's earlier form. Fortunately the Pyokomon there were very friendly and accepting.

"So cute!" Dana gushed, hugging one into her arms and making it giggle.

"Pyokomon! You're all my friends!" Piyomon stated.

"Hey, hey! What kind of Digimon are you?" One of the Pyokomon asked Sora.

"Me?"

Piyomon shook her head. "No, no! They're not Digimon, they're something called humans! They're all really nice."

"Somebody ought to tell her." Zaira said flatly.

Kylie elbowed the semi-goth, "Don't you dare!"

Naturally the Pyokomon were full of questions.

"I was expecting people to be here…" Joe whined.

"This reminds me of a fairy tale my mom read to me when I was little... it was called Gulliver's travels." Mimi recalled fondly.

"I thought we would be able to stay the night here but it looks impossible." Matt said thoughtfully.

"We can't even enter their houses, they're much too small." Izzy added as he looked around.

"We can somehow fit in there." Patamon piped up.

"But not humans..." Joe moaned.

"Hey, we can just camp out next to the village for the night." suggested Beth.

"Piyomon, how did you evolve?" One of the Pyokomon had asked Piyomon.

"I was able to because I was with Sora, y'know." Piyomon answered not noticing Sora had taken a seat behind one of the huts.

"'Y'know'? What's that mean? Are those words that all Piyomon use?"

"No, those are words that Sora uses. I learn so many words being with her!"

"Oh, I get it! But why were you able to evolve? Can you evolve just by being with a human?"

"It must be because I had to protect Sora!" Piyomon supposed.

"Protect me?" Sora wondered "How can she say that, being as lovey-dovey as she is? But, come to think of it…" She then thought back to when two of the boys had been in danger the day before. _'Then… whenever I'm in danger…_It can't be!'

Piyomon then approached her. "Sora! All of the Pyokomon have offered to give us a feast!"

The news of food was a good morale boosters for the group.

* * *

But of course they ran into trouble when the fountain and pond abruptly dried up. They soon figured out why: a digimon that looked like a fiery elemental called Meramon had gone berserk.

He was charging straight to the village, everyone evacuated but Piyomon was determined to make sure all the Pyokomon made it out safely.

That was the very same day Piyomon was able to digivolve. She turned into a flaming bird that fought Meramon and with her special attack drove out something that brought more questions: a black gear.

When that happened, Meramon shrunk back until he was as tall as a human man and water had once again began to flow into the pond and the fountain once more.

And for the past few days, the group had done nothing but wander around in earnest yet instead of finding other humans besides them, they encountered a large number of diverse Digimon. There was one who looked like a fiery elemental, another like a robot and even one that greatly resembled a yellow teddy bear that was two–stories high. Each time danger befell the children, the Digimon they had with them would undergo an 'evolution' and they would all make it through somehow with the guardians using their abilities in Charmix form.

Even Izzy's Tentomon had 'digivolved,' becoming a blue rhinoceros beetle the size of a small truck.

How could these beings do that, and what prompted them to come into existence in the first place?

The only ones among the seven Digimon who had yet to show them their evolved forms was the eldest boy Joe's Digimon, Gomamon, and T.K.'s, Patamon.

As they walked, Izzy asked Tentomon many things about this region and about Digimon. While doing so, he couldn't help but feel a slight self–derision snorting at him in the back of his mind. Never before had he talked so much to a stranger, even if that stranger wasn't a human being.

In the days before he had left for camp, he usually avoided taking the initiative to talk to others in school. He didn't like getting involved with them. Especially not when he didn't even know who in the world he was.

As a matter of course, his classmates rarely had a chance to talk with him. Many thought that he was hard to get along with, and Izzy personally didn't find that inconvenient so he did nothing to persuade them otherwise.

Taichi "Tai" Kamiya was one of the few exceptions. Because their school curriculum had a physical education requirement, Izzy was forced to choose a club. It was a mere coincidence that he chose the soccer club. He wouldn't have to face people one-on-one if he was in a club emphasizing teamwork rather than individual achievement, and the positions in soccer appeared vaguer than they were in baseball. He felt that in the soccer club, he wouldn't have to go out of his way to engage with other people. Tai was an upperclassman in that soccer club. It wasn't that he was extremely talkative, but Tai treated everyone without discrimination, as equals. That attitude of his didn't change, even towards Izzy.

They walked while keeping the steep tower of a mountain the Digimon called 'Infinity Mountain' on their right and the ocean on their left.

At one point poor Kylie falls asleep on a tree root.

"I'm sorry. You see, the thing is... I really didn't get much sleep last night."

"Was it the dream with the strange glowing lady – Sirene - again?" questioned Sora sympathetically.

Kylie nods wearily, "She keeps calling my name. It's happening more and more often since we got to the Digiworld. The voice wakes me up in the middle of the night and I can't go back to sleep."

The direction of the sun had changed during their journey, so they knew they had been circling the island: That is, if this place really was an island. If they assumed that the sun rose from the east, than they should be at the northernmost part of the island right now. As if the land wanted to give physical proof, the temperature had dropped greatly and they came to an area covered in snow. They had only walked several days from the beach, which they had believed was on the south coast, to reach a snowfield. Did such an area ever exist on Earth?

Because the group wore summer clothes for camp, they grew easily numb in the cold. The warmer clothes they had meant to wear at night were left in their book-bags back at camp. Only Mimi and T.K., because they wore slightly thicker clothes, rejoiced as they played within the snow. The plant Digimon, Palmon (who was as big as a toddler and could walk on two legs) as well as Patamon (a hamster the size of a cat, with large ears that flapped like wings but made him move slower than if he was walking) were with them. Palmon was Mimi's Digimon, while Patamon was T.K.'s, and their personalities with their humans was very similar. In other words, both of them were like children without a thread of apprehension in them about their situation.

And the older five girls, although helpful in several areas and gladly sharing their knowledge, it was redundant if even they couldn't find out where they were or send them back home.

"I'm hungry," Mimi commented a little while after playing, to which Joe replied irritably, "Instead of saying that all the time, why don't you try looking for food on your own first!"

For better or for worse, this island (although Joe would not accept that it was just yet) was filled with things that could be eaten. Even though it was hard to believe that they were being supplied with electricity, they found vending machines that actually worked, a storehouse inside an uninhabited cabin that was filled with food, wild plants, and a bunch of other things they didn't know about but were edible.

The Digimon were very familiar with this kind of food and the group never had trouble having things to eat and drink every day. Of course, if they didn't have their Digimon's knowledge, they wouldn't have learned of this so easily. Joe couldn't exactly remember what he had gleaned from reading all of those young adult books on island survival, so he was secretly grateful to the Digimon for their help. But now…

"What is wrong with you people, anyway?" he continued. "Don't you realize the situation that we're in right now?! We have to find the adults quickly and get them to help us out of this place, we have to find somewhere to sleep for tonight, and since we can't just lie down in a cold place like this, we have to start a fire before the sun goes down! There are so many things we have to do, yet all you do is complain!"

Before Joe's conscience had time to catch up with his mouth and throttle it for being so harsh, Mimi began to cry.

"But, but, but…!" she wailed. Mimi continued to sob until they heard Sora shout that she had found food. It took the breath out of Sora's lungs, to raise her voice loud enough to be heard over Mimi's cries.

The anticipation of food warming their stomachs — or to be more exact, the eggs had found inside a refrigerator in this cold district pleased everyone greatly. With bright faces, they all gathered around the refrigerator. Joe was the only one who arrived slower than the rest.

"What's wrong, Joe? Aren't you gonna eat?" Gomamon asked his partner as they settled down to eat their cooked eggs.

"I was just thinking how we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble if we were at home."

The moment he said that, everyone stopped eating.

"I want to go home too." Mimi whimpered.

"I wonder what everyone's doing…" T.K. said softly.

"It's been four days since we've come here." Izzy said thoughtfully.

Then Sora changed the subject. "Hey, everyone! What do you like to put on top of your eggs?"

"For eggs, I use salt and pepper, of course." Joe replied matter of factly.

Beth spoke up, "Try avocado and tomatoes."

"Soy sauce for me." Tai replied.

"Mayonnaise." was Matt's answer.

"Some melted cheese is nice." Kylie told them.

"I put sauce on mine." Sora added.

"Buffalo sauce, I like it spicy." Theo grinned.

"I use a little _ponzu_." Izzy answered.

This left Tai, Matt, T.K. and some of the others a little disgusted at the idea of eating eggs with a citrus type sauce.

"Sounds gross." T.K. said looking aghast.

"You're all weird. For eggs, it's obvious that you eat them with sugar!" Mimi then chimed in. "I love eating that with _natto_ on top too!"

"Fermented beans?!" Beth clutched her stomach. Even the others looked a little more queasy with the revelation.

"That's too weird!" T.K. said, covering his mouth.

"You all put that bizarre stuff on your eggs?! I'm shocked! The Japanese culture is collapsing before my very eyes!" Joe griped.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gomamon stated obliviously.

"H-Hey, Joe…" Matt tried to get the older boy's attention.

"Who worries over stuff like that? Well, _natto_ might be something to worry about…" Taichi joked.

"With eggs, all you need is salt and pepper!" Joe snapped. "Not sauce, not ketchup, or mayonnaise, but salt and pepper!"

"He's really worked up about this, isn't he?" Zaira comments.

"Well, its true, isn't it? You keep worrying over the little things." Gomamon agreed.

This led to a verbal argument between Joe and Gomamon to the point where Matt had to stop Joe from doing something he'll regret.

"You're acting weird today. Maybe you're just tired."

"I'm not tired! I'm not the one who's acting weird here. All of you are!"

"As if, your butt's so uptight, you won't even use the public washrooms!" Theo joked.

Joe flushed furiously but the comment inevitably got a chuckle out of T.K. and Dana.

"That sounds funny!"

Things didn't get much better when a heated debate erupted between Tai and Matt again.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Tai demanded.

"It's still too dangerous!" Matt responded angrily.

"It's no use thinking about it!"

"And I'm telling you to _think_ about it a little!"

"Then what? Are you saying that I'm not thinking about anything?!"  
"Yeah."

"What?!"

"Hey, what's wrong? What are those two arguing about?" Joe asked the group.

"They're arguing over whether or not we should head to Infinity Mountain." Izzy explained.

Tai says they ought to climb the mountain and get a good view of their surroundings. But Matt is dead set against it because it's dangerous.

"There are a lot of ferocious Digimon on that mountain." Piyomon informed Joe.

"I see… That's dangerous." Joe considered.

"What?" Tai was yelling. "We won't get anywhere if we kept running away like you!"

Matt answered back. "You think I'm gonna quietly follow along with your recklessness and get everyone into danger?"

"Speak for yourself, Ishida!" Theo snarled.

Joe gets into between the two boys. "Hold it! Let's calm down first and talk it over without fighting."

"What's your opinion, Joe?" Matt asked.

"Who do you agree with?" Tai questioned immediately.

"Well, what Tai says is true… If we climb up there, we can get a sense of directions."

"See, look!"

"But what Matt says is right too. There's no point in climbing up that mountain if it'll bring harm to everyone…" Joe said thoughtfully.

"In any case, let's just go as far as we can!" Tai countered.

"And I'm telling you, you're wrong!" Matt snapped.

"Wait! I'm thinking right now! Just wait a bit! Calm down!" Joe interjected.

"You're the one who's heating up!"

"What? I'm thinking for all of your…"

"Let's just go!" Tai yelled.

"Don't decide on your own!" Matt retorted.

"LISTEN TO ME!" Joe hollered.

Kylie huffed and stomped over to the three boys. "Knock it off, if anyone's going to that mountaintop it'll be us guardians!"

"And for fighting you three separate sections!" Beth yelled. "Tai left side, Matt right side, and Joe you in the middle!"

The three boys began protesting indignantly, but then Beth gives them a dangerous death glare with a booming order. "NOW!"

* * *

That night Kylie dreamed of Sirene again, except she's now in some distant hallway with Sirene's voice beckoning.

_"Kylie. You're so close."_

_"Close to what?"_

_"To understanding the truth. Come. Hurry!"_

_The end of the hallway is glowing with white light which Kylie is approaching slowly and uncertainly. Then she stops. "But why? How is this going to help us?" _

_Eventually it's too bright and Kylie stops to cover her face._

_"You all must learn the truth! Only then will you move forward!"_

* * *

Something didn't feel right. Everyone's eyes shot open at once. It was Sora who found Joe's letter placed near the opening of the cave. A rock had been placed on top of it so the wind wouldn't blow it away.

_I'm climbing up the mountain to see for sure whether or not this place is an island. Please stay here and wait for me._

Infinity Mountain towered before their eyes from the snow field they were in now. Because it looked like a steep tower, it had appeared drastically tall, but now that they were closer to it, they could see that it wasn't as high as they'd originally imagined. Even so, that didn't mean it was an easy mountain for Joe and his small Digimon, who was yet unable to evolve, to climb successfully.

Theo picked up the note and read it, "I'm gonna clobber him! We flat out told him and all of you to leave it to us!"

"He must have felt terrible about what happened last night, all this time," Sora whispered, trying to calm the older girl down.

Tai said, "Anyway, it's dangerous to be up there alone. Let's go help him. With Sora's Digimon, me and Agumon can get there quick. You guys can catch up later."

His decisions came with lightning–speed in times like this. Tai usually acted without giving a more detailed explanation, but his reasoning was sound.

"We're coming with you!" Beth said sternly.

In less than a minute, she, Dana and Theo changed into fairy form, wings and all. Sora's pink–colored bird Digimon, Piyomon, always acted like a pampered child, but now she changed shape into a large and fierce fire bird Digimon.

Just as one would expect from the flames wrapped around her body, the temperature there was too high for anyone to climb up on, but Taichi, Agumon, and Sora could dangle from her two clawed feet. This was the only part of Birdramon that was like an ordinary bird.

Hanging, with Agumon, onto one of Birdramon's legs as if he were riding a ski lift, Tai looked behind him and yelled, "Matt, I'm counting on you to take care of them!"

"Got it! Leave it to me!" was how the blond responded, but when Matt looked behind him, he couldn't help but let out a little sigh. There was his little brother, the fourth grade boy who hardly talked and was followed by a ladybug that spoke in Kansai dialect, and the boy's female classmate who spoke aloud everything she was thinking.

"We'll watch out for them!" Zaira called back in reassurance.

* * *

Infinity Mountain loomed above their sights. A long, well–worn road all the way up to its apex, and it wasn't impossible for even an elementary school grader to climb it.

Gomamon jumped steadily alongside Joe. His white body was exactly like that of a seal, including his flippers, so his form didn't appear as if it was well–suited for this rocky environment. However, he made no sound of a complaint as he climbed. In fact, he kept up making saucy comments such as: "Joe! I'm leaving you behind if you don't hurry up!"

"You're one to talk. I'll leave you behind if you slow down," Joe shot back, while silently thinking that he had never spoken so impudently like this towards friends in his classes and in cram school.

"Anyway, it's great that it's started to get warmer ever since we started climbing this mountain."

"I'm strong enough to tough this out even with the cold, though."

The pair kept poking at each other all throughout their climb. Joe didn't know it at this time, but the one thing that distracted him from feeling discouraged at climbing an unfamiliar mountain all on his own was Gomamon's constant chatter.

A part of the mountainside split open without a sound. The inside of it was like a cave but because no light spilled into it, one could not tell how deep it was. The only thing one could see was a darkness that appeared to be saturated with evil intent. Something black came rushing out from inside, and the split closed silently once more. The seam could not be seen anywhere.

Gomamon noticed them first. "Hey, look."

"Black gears…" Without a second thought, Joe pulled Gomamon to him and hid.

And for good reason, many of the Digimon who had attacked them in the past few days all had a black gear stuck somewhere within their bodies. The black gears made them lose their sanity and become violent. To remove them from the Digimon's body, the gears needed to be attacked with a considerable amount of power before they were destroyed.

None of the children knew where the black gears had come from and what their purpose was, but now Joe said, "They flew over from this mountain…"

"I'm not stupid enough to wait for one of those things to stick me," Gomamon said, answering the unspoken worry that Joe felt. He turned. "Well, let's go, Joe! There's still a long way ahead of us."

A gear pierced through clouds as it flew at mid–height of the mountain. With a sharp turn, it punctured the back of a Digimon who was in the middle of descending from the skies — so hard that half of it stuck out from the Digimon's body.

The black gears may not be made completely from some solid substance. The Digimon's back gave no indication of a wound or even a spurt of blood. The only thing that changed was that the Digimon's eyes (although one could only see glass because it was wearing something similar to a welding helmet) glowed with a strange light that looked very evil.

* * *

No matter how worn the mountain path was, it was still very steep. However, not even Mimi gave a peep of complaint — there was no mistake that all of them were thinking about Joe.

It had taken their combined efforts to convince Zaira and Kylie to climb the mountain, explaining each of them was aware that they were the ones who had pushed him so far that he felt obliged to make the climb on his own.

They made it halfway up when they spotted Tai and the others, along with Joe, already engaged in battle

"Greymon is there too. Ah, he's trying to attack that Digimon who looks like a horse!" Izzy said, pointing to a Digimon flying in the sky.

Among the gaps in the trees, they could see Greymon aim a ball of fire in the air above him. But the narrow mountain path was not wide enough for him to gain a foothold and support his large build.

The Digimon they believed to be the enemy was a flying white horse. Flapping its wings broadly, it rapidly changed course in mid–air and shot out white light from its mouth. Greymon lost his balance and fell.

"Greymon!" Matt cried out.

As Greymon scrambled, he landed in a lower place that was much wider than before. It was there that they saw the fiery wings of Birdramon. Glowing, she became smaller and returned to Piyomon. She must have exhausted a colossal amount of energy to reach the mountain.

Tai chased after Greymon by sliding down the slope. Matt and the others couldn't see them, but Sora and the other three guardians must have been there as well. The flying horse Digimon began to aim more of its attacks in that direction.

"Gabumon, let's go!" Matt called out to his Digimon. When evolved, Gabumon had enormous fighting strength but — at this, Matt hesitated— he couldn't fly. It wasn't certain whether or not they would make it in time, and there wasn't a chance he could leave T.K. and the others alone.

"We'll go ahead," Izzy said to Tentomon. When Tentomon evolved, he could easily fly there with Izzy riding on his head.

But there was still one problem. If T.K. was to be taken along with Matt's Digimon, Izzy would have to bring Mimi and Palmon. This addition would greatly reduce Kabuterimon's offensive ability. After all, that flying horse moved at a very slick speed. Kabuterimon wouldn't be able to deal with it effectively if too many people were balanced on his head.

Mimi, who had been staring in blank amazement above her, now raised her voice. "Ah! There's Joe!"

Snapping their heads up, both Matt and Izzy saw Joe jump off the cliff. He had aimed himself at the back of the flying horse Digimon. Only narrowly did Joe make it. He was grabbing tightly onto something on that Digimon's back.

"I see it! He's trying to take out the black gear!" Kylie gasped.

"No! Look out!" Mimi cried. Unable to withstand as the flying horse twisted its body to buck him off, Joe was thrown towards the skies.

Now Gomamon leapt off the cliff. Light shot out from somewhere that the children couldn't see, and when it reached Gomamon, the light radiated from inside him and he changed into a bigger shape.

"Gomamon digivolve to… Ikkakumon!" He became a Digimon that was as big as Greymon, his entire body covered with long white hairs. Ikkakumon braced himself on a ledge that was slightly higher up than where Greymon was. Joe landed with a soft bounce on his back.

"Ah! He shot out a horn!"

Matt and the others were just as surprised as T.K.

The horn propelled through the air like a rocket, a fizzling fire burning at the end of its tail. The flying horse dodged it, but the horn that looked as if it was about to fall towards the ground, threw off its shell to reveal the real missile inside. This missile was what had been spouting the fire and it changed direction to aim directly at the horse's back. Advancing swiftly, as if it were being pulled towards its mark, it exploded into the flying horse's back. From within the beam of light that followed, the silhouette of a black gear floated upwards and was pulverized.

As the others rejoiced, they turned their gazes back to Joe to find a new horn had regrown on top of Ikkakumon's head. They couldn't see Joe's expression, being so far away, but they were sure that he, too, was wearing a joyous look on his face.

Right after every Digimon devolved and the guardians have changed back, they reached Joe. I have to admit, he'd been driving me on my nerves all of yesterday but today I now had a newfound respect for him. To not only scout ahead but also deal with Unimon, he's alright in my book.

"I've changed my opinion of you, Joe. Sorry about last night." Tai admitted as they shook hands.

"You courage was what made Gomamon evolve, Joe!" Sora proclaimed.

"That's wrong!" Gomamon interrupted. "It wasn't because of Joe's courage, but because of my own hard work! Probably! I mean, it is! It has to be! What? Wanna fight?"

Joe merely smiled. "Thank you, Gomamon. We were saved because of you!"

Gomamon could only blush.

"Look, Gomamon's blushing!" Piyomon teased.

"Shut up! I'm not!"

"Hey, what happened to the others?" Joe asked, looking around.

"Izzy and Kabuterimon are gonna airlift the rest of the group." Zaira explained, jerking a thumb behind her.

"Let's go, everyone! To the peak!" Tai declared.

About thirty minutes later, we finally reached the top.

"The actual credit would have to go to Joe and Gomamon for scaling this thing, the rest of us cheated." remarked Dana.

"We made it!"

But once they reached the best possible position to get a view of the surroundings, their spirits quickly sank. There was a reason why this place was called File Island… as we unfortunately discovered.

"This is…"

They all discovered they all were, as said by the Digimon, on an island surrounded by a vast ocean and were disappointed. What will they do now?

**_To be continued…_**


	4. Evil shows it's face

When Kylie's group had finally rejoined the others, Joe was on his knees in the dirt. He was saying, "This place really was an island! No matter where we walk, we can't escape from here!"

Kylie walked over to see for herself and was hit with a very strong feeling of familiarity. The mountain peak was as wide as a gymnasium and they could see all of their surroundings from there: What they'd walked through as well as the opposite side of the mountain. No matter where they turned, the sea stretched endlessly towards the horizon. They could not find any continents or other lands out there.

Suddenly the group wished they had accepted what the Digimon had said earlier on the spot. It would have made things easier. Would they have to continue living the rest of their lives on this island, or should they continue hoping for help to reach them? And even so, for how long would they have to wait?

"We could always _fly_ out of here." Dana suggested.

"You can't guarantee that you can carry all of us." Matt interjected, "Who knows how wide that ocean is. Or if there's any other land mass further out there."

"What are we going to do?!" Joe wailed.

"So… Swiss family Kido he's not." Theo quipped.

Kylie looked around touching her forehead, "There's just something about this place that feels… so familiar! I keep getting déjà vu, but no matter how hard I try… I can't remember even arriving here!"

"Don't force it, usually they come on their own." Zaira was telling her.

"Maybe so but the dreams and my powers reacting a little stronger with the place is just another one of the questions I want an answer to."

"You're not saying you want to stay here do you?" Sora asked Kylie uneasily.

Kylie shook her head. "Not until we get you and the others back to Japan, contact someone I know about this realm. Then maybe I'll stay with whatever scientific or explorer's team decides to discover more about this place."

"Fair enough. I think."

Nearby, Tai had sat down with a pencil and attempted to make a map. Emphasis on attempted, since it looked more like scribbles and lines.

Matt criticized. "That doesn't look useful at all!"

Sora sighed, "Tai was never good at drawing."

Tai glared at them, "I don't care! Since I drew it I can understand it!"

"It's useless to make a map." Joe was moaning, he was still on his knees. "Everything's hopeless."

"Why did things have to turn out like this?" Mimi sighed.

"Mimi…"

Just then there came a crash behind them. When they ran over, they discovered that the path they had previously taken had been destroyed.

"We can't go back that way anymore." T.K. noticed.

Suddenly a human–shaped figure walked into view. It, or rather, his body covered with many scars that looked far sturdier. What's more, it couldn't have been a human after all, because from the neck up was the head of a lion.

"It's Leomon!"

Seeing T.K.'s worried look beside him, Patamon fluttered his ears as he said comfortingly, "He's really strong, but he's a good Digimon,"

Gabumon added. "Don't worry, Leomon is a Digimon of justice!"

So he wasn't a human but a Digimon. And good one at that. They smiled with relief… That is, until Leomon laid a hand on the sword wrapped around his waist and said, "Chosen Children… Guardians… Sirene's heir… Must die."

The words were spoken in a low, withered voice, but Kylie could hear him plainly. Pulling out his sword with an underhand grip, Leomon made a wide stance.

None of them knew what or who the 'Chosen Children' were, let alone Sirene's heir. The guardians, it was more than obvious he was talking about the five older girls with them, but one thing was clear: he was out to get them!

They all turned the other way only for a green creature to appear from the path that the others had used to climb up. His face was twice as large as a Namahage mask but just as savage. If they hadn't seen his mouth move and speak viciously at them, the children might have thought that he was an ordinary adult wearing a mask.

"You're all dead!" The entire upper half of the troll's body was green. His muscular shoulders seemed as big as small hills, while the length of the arms that stretched from them were as big as a human's. When he made a fist, it looked five times bigger. In his right hand was gripped a large club that looked as if it was made from bone. With one twirl of that club, the stone next to him smashed into sand particles.

There was no way to escape from the mountain. The sound of the club hitting rock again and a coarse laugh could be heard behind them, while the Leomon in front began to advance towards them. Leomon's sword gave off a dull glint. His pace was surprisingly slow.

"Agumon, evolve now!" spurred by Tai's voice, all of the Digimon evolved simultaneously.

The five older girls followed suit, transforming on Beth's signal.

Before Leomon stood Greymon, while the fire bird, Birdramon, hovered in the skies above them. Next to Greymon was a cactus with arms and legs, readying herself into a fighting stance. It was the evolved form of Mimi's Palmon, Togemon. Fluttering above them were Theo and Beth, already in fairy form.

Facing the green troll (Ogremon) was Ikkakumon, who had just evolved, waving his horn in his opponent's face. Next to him was an enormous blue wolf that Matt's Gabumon evolved into, Garurumon. Buzzing above them was the large rhinoceros beetle that Tentomon evolved into, Kabuterimon. Kylie, Zaira and Dana were hovering right with him.

With the odds of eleven against two, even Leomon and Ogremon stopped walking. Each of the children's Digimon was larger than the size of a human. Even the smallest of them all Togemon, was twice as large as Leomon.

Greymon moved first to attack. Just when he was about to open his mouth to blast out a fireball, the sound of an explosion was heard above their heads. The rock near the summit started to crumble. If nothing was done, the children would be dragged into the rockslide that they wouldn't be able to escape from.

Quick as lightning the girls shot out their attacks first. Greymon shot out fire, while Garurumon let fly a long spray of pale flames from his mouth. Birdramon spread her wings grandly, shooting out a number of smaller fireballs. Ikkakumon released a consecutive stream of explosive horns, while Kabuterimon formed a ball of strong electricity with his set of three legs before shooting it out. The rocks close to falling on them dissolved into fine pieces. One large piece that had escaped the barrage of attacks and was heading towards the children was deftly flown to bits with one rapid punch by Togemon. She was wearing bright red boxing gloves on her hands.

All of the rocks had turned to sand, which rained incessantly on them. By the time it stopped and the children finally raised their heads, both Leomon and Ogremon had disappeared from the mountain trail.

"Are they… gone?" Joe asked as he re-positioned his glasses up his nose

"Neither Leomon nor Ogremon can fly, right?" Sora asked. Piyomon nodded.

"T-Then we're saved! We're so lucky!" laughed Joe.

"What's wrong, Tai?" Agumon had noticed Tai looked thoughtful.

"I was wondering why the rocks suddenly fell down…"

"When the path was destroyed earlier, it could've created a crack in the rocks." Izzy theorized.

Beth and the girls looked up, something didn't feel right.

* * *

Night was approaching by the time they reached the foot of the mountain.

"No matter how you think about it, it's very strange!" said Izzy. "How could the Digimon evolve twice in one day?"

Tai moaned. "So what? Because of that, we were saved!"

"Hey… Couldn't we just think that the Digimon have powered up?" Sora questioned. "What? Like they've earned enough stamina that they can evolve more than once a day?"

"Yes, that's a possibility." Izzy nodded.

"Even if that's true, it was still pretty hard on them…" Matt pointed out at how tired the Digimon looked.

"What were they talking about Sirene's heir?" Kylie wondered aloud.

Beth added her own questions, "What's a long lost nymph got to do with these Chosen children? And why are they so intent on getting rid of them?"

"You're overthinking a little too much into it. Maybe they were just rambling." Joe told them.

"Oh, like you do sometimes?" Zaira quipped.

"That's not the point!"

"Are you okay, Palmon?" Mimi turned to her digimon.

"I don't feel so good."

"I can't walk anymore…" Piyomon sighed.

Matt requested. "This isn't going to work. Let's look for a place where we can rest for a while."

"Yeah… We're all pretty…" Sora was saying.

"Look over there!" Joe's voice got their attention.

Everyone thought they were lucky that Joe had discovered the house within the forest. The group was bone–tired and even their Digimon, who never appeared to run out of energy (as long as there was enough food), seemed to be drooping on their feet after their evolutions.

When they arrived at the house, they found that it would be more appropriate to call it a mansion or a small castle: It was a brick, European–styled house that was three–stories high. From their vantage point below, even the windows on the attic floor looked as though they had rooms.

Opening the heavy front door, they stepped into a large hallway lit brightly by a magnificent chandelier. That much was expected, but what caught them off–guard and made them rush restlessly to the dining hall was the smell of delicious food that floated towards them. After eating half–cooked barbecue and washed fruits day in and day out on the island, the freshly cooked food made their eyes widen. It was filled with platters that certainly 'would not have looked out of place in a movie.'

There was even a bathroom that was slightly open–air and filled with gushing, warm bathwater. This public bathhouse was the only place that was so ill–fitted for the surrounding Western architecture but so far only Kylie and Zaira felt wary. They couldn't quite explain it, but it felt as though they were all walking through mist, like they're being deceived.

What was most baffling was that, despite all of the preparations that must have gone into this warm reception, not a single human figure was in sight.

However, the group did not have the time to be bothered about that. After filling their stomachs with food that actually looked like the food they were used to, they jumped into the baths to wash out the grime and sand that clung to the roots of their hair.

There were sixteen beds total in the large room on the third floor, which was odd. The sheets were soft and clean, as if they had just been washed, and the beds were big enough for even an average adult to fit in them that each child and their respective Digimon climbed in together to sleep. It was the first time since the seven children and five guardians had arrived on this island that they had ever felt this comfortably satisfied. For a while after they burrowed under the covers, their cheerful conversations continued.

"This feels like camping school!" Mimi giggled.

"You mean boarding school," Zaira corrected, "This was how more or less it was studying abroad."

"What do you mean, 'feels like?'" Joe said matter of factly. "We were supposed to be in summer camp to begin with, so it's…" Only to stop when he saw how downcast everyone else looked. "I'm sorry."

With Joe's words, everyone's anxiety returned.

"No, you're right! We all left thinking we were just going to camp." Tai said sadly.

Matt whispered. "Today's the fifth day since we've come to File Island. The school and our folks must be in an uproar."

"Might be a while before my parents even know my sisters and are missing." Beth grumbled, but she'd wrapped her arms around her knees.

Dana sniffled. "I miss Speck and his siblings… and Pipkin and everyone else. They probably think we've abandoned them or that something awful happened to us."

"I wish I'd hugged Achilles and the pack before we left." Kylie said softly.

"Who're they?" Joe asked in a whisper.

Theo looked a little alarmed, "We'll explain later tomorrow."

"Papa… Mama…" Mimi whispered tearfully.

Zaira had only dropped her gaze, not saying anything.

"I wonder if they really know we're here," Sora muttered.

"Well, we can't be sure of that," Izzy said. "After all, this place is…"

Matt made a loud noise as he dove under his blankets, cutting off Izzy's words. "Even if we talk about this now, we won't solve anything. We can speculate it to exhaustion and we still won't be able to figure out how our parents are doing, or where we are. Instead of worrying about that, we should sleep so we can be well–rested for tomorrow."

"Yeah, I agree," Joe sighed as he took off his glasses and placed them on his bedside. Not even Gomamon, or the other Digimon who had been laughing joyfully with them only moments before, could break the heavy silence.

"Mama…"

Everyone heard T.K. murmur into his pillow. He might even be crying.

"Let's get some sleep. The Digimon are tired too." Sora agreed.

"Good night!" Tai said a just a little louder than he intended.

"Good night."

That one word shut everyone's mouths and they quietly pulled the covers over them.

As he pondered in his thoughts, Tai felt his eyelids droop heavily as he felt more and more sleepy. He could feel himself about to fade out when he was jolted awake by a voice.

"Tai…" Agumon whispered to him. "I have to go to the bathroom."

* * *

Two minutes later, Kylie soon got up, needing a drink of water. She got up holding the bathrobe around her before stopping briefly looking at her bag then began to walk away.

However, suddenly feeling colder even with the bathrobe on, she went back and pulled out a camping blanket, holding it under her arm. Just in case.

A large moon was glittering outside, the moonlight falling through the windows and landing on a painting that hung on the end of the hallway she walked down. But as she approached the stairs, something got her attention that had raised metaphorical red flags.

The painting, wasn't there supposed to be a picture of an angel there?

Within the large frame that was bathed in pale light, there had been a painting of an angel kneeling before something while offering up a prayer. T.K. and Patamon, who had spotted it first, exclaimed that it was a pretty picture and gazing at it for a long time. But now that painting was… pitch–black.

Nothing was drawn inside the framed canvas. Although light was gleaming on it, it was the darkest black as if a giant hand had reached in and scooped out a neat, rectangular hole.

Uneasy, she tried leaning over the corridor railing to get a better look but pulled back quickly in alarm. The railing had made a nasty creak under her weight, even though it was made of thick wood and looked stout. Why would it creak as if…?

There came the sound of a heavy blow that echoed in the hallway then Tai and Agumon ran out into the corridor screaming.

"It's Ogremon!" the goggle boy hollered.

"What?" Kylie gasped.

The moment she spoke, Tai and Agumon froze, looking at something over her shoulder. Slowly, she turned around to see Leomon standing in the hallway that led right to the bedroom where the others slept. They were cut off from both sides in the corridor.

"The children… the heir… Kill…!"

"Leomon!" Tai said, backing up.

Kylie stared. "But how did they get in?"

It was then that a voice echoed from somewhere within the dark mansion.

"It seems you've noticed." The voice sounded as if it was coming from far away, yet at the same time, Kylie and Tai felt it being whispered into right into their ears. Within its quiet depths, they could feel only evil seeping. If darkness had a voice, it would surely have a voice like this.

"If you had slept quietly, you would have died without knowing a thing."

This time the voice had come from the railing across from them, Kylie, Tai and Agumon turned to see a human–shaped shadow stood above that railing. What made it clear that the shadow was not a human were the extremely long arms that were folded in front of him, the long horns and the bat–like wings that sprouted on his back.

Kylie placed herself in front of Tai and Agumon almost instinctively, "Who – or what are you?!"

His mouth opening from underneath his black mask, he said, "My name is Devimon. He who is entrusted with fulfilling the mission of the Darkness. And this dream is over."

* * *

Beth, who had trouble sleeping, checked her watch and groaned. "I'm going to have that kid running laps for a whole week!"

Except the moment she sat up, the bathrobe had begun to vanish leaving Beth in her undergarments. Immediately she yelped then stared in horror as everything in the mansion was decaying.

The roof, the walls, and the floor of the mansion shattered to pieces. They could see the night sky, the forest, and Infinity Mountain all around him. The mansion that had once looked so resplendent now looked as if it had been destroyed more than hundreds of years ago. Not one part of it was left in mint condition.

Kylie and Tai were standing in the ruins of the corridor. It wasn't long before they both felt that their stomach grumbling and bodies rough with dirt. The food and baths must have been an illusion just like the mansion.

Tai found himself in his underwear, while Kylie was just barely able to hold on to the camping shroud she'd retrieved from her bag.

They'd seen plenty of weird things ever since they had come to this island, but never something like this.

"Agumon!" Tai drew Agumon close. "Evolve, Agumon!" He held out his Digivice, but it gave no reaction.

"Tai, I can't….. I don't feel any strength— it's really strange — like I'd never eaten anything…"

"But you ate so much!"

"Everything was an illusion….. I'd planned to at least put you to sleep before killing you off."

It was no wonder that Agumon couldn't evolve then. He didn't have enough energy.

Slowly, he unfolded his long arms and spread them upwards. Kylie and Tai could hear screams coming from the bedroom. They turned to see beds flying above in the air.

Matt and the others woke up to an odd sound that they had never heard before. When they realized that it was the sound of the mansion's roof and walls disappearing, the starry sky above them was already widening into sight before their very eyes. When they tried to get off the beds, they saw that even the floor was full of holes. A wrong step and they might break through the floor and fall down from three stories high.

As they wondered over what to do, this time, their beds suddenly rose in the air. As they fastened themselves to the bedposts, the beds tilted diagonally and moved at odd angles. It was as if they were riding a jet coaster without seat belts and it took all of their might to prevent themselves from being shaken off.

"What? Why are you doing this to us?!" Tai demanded angrily

"Because you… are the Chosen Children."

"The Chosen… Children?"

"Yes. You and those guardians are nuisances to me. In other words, you keep me from carrying out my plans to take over this world with my black gears!"

He spread his arms, causing the ground to shake and Mt. Infinity cracked, then split open to reveal hundreds of those black gears. Because of the pressure from them, the island itself cracks and split into several different segments – each of which drift apart the main area.

"We only got rid of your black gears because they were disrupting the ecosystem, and causing more harm to the Digimon on this island, I hardly think that's enough to warrant attacking us! I want to know one other thing, why are you after this heir of Sirene your… lackeys keep mentioning?" Kylie demanded.

It was then Devimon shot Kylie a look of pure venom.

Tai hissed at Kylie, trying to pull her back. "Not a good time to be asking those kind of questions!"

"You clearly have no idea what she is. Why do you think the other Digimon were so welcoming to her before the other guardians?" Devimon taunted. "Soon after that meddlesome nymph was seen as a worthy ruler aiding the weaker links, established her soft-hearted regimen within this world, she brought one life into it. Her only heir: yourself."

That last world shocked everyone out of their wits.

"That's impossible!" Tai yelled in disbelief, "Besides that would mean Kylie is … some kind of princess?!"

Kylie was greatly taken aback, "But I'm not… I… I don't understand!"

"You don't know? You're the last and only heir to Sirene's legacy. Thus, the sovereign to this world. I, like many others want the power that's in you. We understand the hidden depths of your essence and would've stopped at nothing to get it. It would've been successful had your mother, Sirene, not intervened."

"What? _My mother_?" Kylie cried in disbelief.

She already knew she was adopted, but this was just insane!

"Oh yes. Naturally she had to be done away with. She succeeded in hiding you far from this world in a secret location, soon after your birth. In hopes that no other digimon as powerful as I could find you."

Above them she could see the girls also trying their best to hang on to the beds, they too must be still drained from the fight earlier that day.

"File Island has already been taken over by the black gears." Devimon jeered. "The other side of the ocean is next!"

"The other side of the ocean?" Tai questioned

Kylie gasped, "You mean, there are other continents?"

"You won't be seeing your birthplace. Because this spot will be your graves!"

Leomon jumped right toward us, unsheathing his sword. "I will destroy them."

Agumon tries spitting a baby flame, but only manages to produce a small flame from his mouth. Leomon shoots his beast king attack, blasting him backwards.

Devimon taunted, "It's useless to struggle! You have no more power left to evolve! Finish them both, Leomon!"

Leomon grabs Tai by the throat, with his sword held up over his head. Kylie pulled at the lion-like digimon's arm futilely and he only threw her aside.

There was nothing the others could do for them.

Just when it appeared as if Tai would be cut to pieces, something changed. A dazzling light suddenly pierced the darkness, Kylie saw that it was coming from the blue device in Tai had dropped by Leomon's left foot.

The next change that occurred was what stirred in Leomon when the light reached him. The hand holding his sword stopping in mid–swing, he began to shake his head back and forth as if he was trying to shake something off. Something black began to rip out of his back.

When the light stopped, Leomon stood up straight looking at them with ocean blue eyes. "The evil has vanished!"

"What's going on here?" Tai asked.

However Devimon wasn't pleased. He gestured towards the others and the beds all fall sharply downwards.

"Fist of the Beast king!" Drawing his right hand, which did not hold the sword, towards him into a fighting posture, Leomon punched the air before him with a loud yell. From his fist flew out a mass of scorching hot air shaped like a lion's head, which surged towards the demonic shadow with a ferocious roar.

The demon spread his wings and flew into the air to avoid it. The railing he had been standing on disintegrated along with the corridor it had been connected to.

"Devimon! How dare you use such foul play against me! It's unforgivable!"

The flying beds abruptly straightened as if someone's control had been lost over them, and they began to move smoothly through the air. All twelve beds separated into different directions. T.K.'s bed flew further and further out of Matt's sight.

Ogremon pounced forward to fight Leomon. "Looks like we're destined to battle."

This prompted Leomon to say to Tai, Agumon and Kylie: Leave him to me!

"But…"

"No complaints!"

"You've got to escape too! We can't do this alone!" Kylie cried.

"I must prevent Devimon from destroying you and the chosen children!" he roared.

Two empty beds made a sudden nose dive as if losing sense of destination. Just when they going to pass by them, Leomon grabbed Kylie and threw her roughly onto the first bed. Without losing altitude, the bed continued to fall towards water level.

Next he drove his sword into the patch of ground Tai and Agumon were standing, it falls into the ocean and starts to drift away.

They could hear Leomon call out to them, "You are the only hope for this world! Survive!"

"Leomon!" Tai cried out.

"If there is a chance, we shall meet again!"

Kylie could only watch as her patch of land could float away far from the others. The other beds continued to fly through the night sky until they dropped into separate areas of land.

**_To be continued…_**


	5. Glaciers, mazes and ghosts galore!

Devimon is in a dark, gothic-looking room in his castle, laughing. Leomon and Ogremon are in the room at the bottom of a short staircase.

"It matters not they're either the chosen children, guardians nor Sirene's frightened heir, they're helpless alone. I'll persecute all of you without mercy! Fly, my black gears, fly!"

* * *

Dana was hanging on to the bedpost for dear life until the bed hit a snowbank. As she caught her breath, she trembled from the cold weather. Then turned to her left to see her clothes lying in a heap. "Yipe!" She yelped, grabbing them in order to put them on.

She called for her sisters and the others only to get no response. Knowing that sitting around wouldn't help seeing as they were all scattered, Dana transformed and flew up to get a better view where she was.

The piece of land she was on was part of the frozen area then she spotted something moving in the distance. Flying closer, she saw that it was Tai and Agumon being carried by a snowman type digimon. It greatly resembled a humanoid bear made of snow with red, round buttons on its chest. It had black eyes and nose that resemble coal.

"Tai, Agumon, up here!" she called out to them in relief.

The two blinked, looked around. "Dana?"

Surprised, the three glanced upwards to see her flitting over to them.

"It IS her!" Agumon cheered.

The youngest of the guardians quickly landed in front of them. "Boy, am I glad to see you two!"

"Same here." Tai smiled in relief.

"Where are the others?" Dana asked, looking around.

"We don't know. But Matt and Theo are on that moving island over there!"

"Then that's where we're going!" Dana declared.

They reached the island by dawn and walked right into a snow covered forest.

"They should be around here…" said Frigimon, the snowman digimon that helped Tai and Agumon.

"Tai, look at that!" Agumon suddenly pointed.

There halfway buried in the snow was one of the beds from the false mansion.

"There's no doubt about it now. They must be nearby." Tai said determinedly. "Hey, Matt!"

"Gabumon!"

"Theo!"

Meanwhile, Matt had become desperate to find his younger brother to the point of obsession. So much that when Theo and Gabumon went out to search, they returned to find Matt half frozen out in the snow in front of them. With Gabumon lending his furry pelt (he had the guardian swear not to tell anyone about what he looked like) Theo spent half the night making sure Matt was warm and dry.

When he finally woke up, the older girl had smacked him. "Are you crazy?! You almost gave a heart attack! Is that what you want, for me and the others to identify your frozen corpse to—?"

Her angry rant was interrupted by a sneeze from Gabumon.

"Gabumon! You ended up getting my cold…" Matt had the decency to look apologetic. "I'm sorry. But I'm feeling completely better now. Thank you."

"Hey, Matt!"

"Ah, that's Tai's voice!" Gabumon exclaimed before sneezing.

"And that's Dana calling out with him!" Theo acknowledged.

They all ran out of the cave to see Tai and Dana running towards them. They explained how Frigimon had seen them land on the island section and how they went looking for him.

"Did you see anybody else?" Matt asked Frigimon.

"Um, well… You two were the only ones who fell on this island. The others must have landed on different islands."

"Different islands…"

Tai put his right hand on Matt's shoulder. "Hey, don't get depressed!"

Gabumon sneezed once more.

"What's wrong?" Agumon asked his sick friend.

"I think I've got a cold…"

"And Matt almost caught his death here last night too." Theo said sternly.

Matt glared at her indignantly. "I get it! I know I shouldn't have done it!"

"A cold, huh?" Frigimon said. "Wait just a second."

And without another word he began walking into the forest.

"Hey, where are you going?" Tai asked.

Agumon had convinced Gabumon to rest up in the cave so they walked off.

"Now then. What should we do?" Tai wondered aloud

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to look for the others." Matt replied curtly.

"Where? Did YOU see where they landed?" Dana inquired, raising her eyebrows.

"She's got a point. I'm sure everyone's separated and they're all on different islands now. How can we look when we can't even fly?"

Matt folded his arms and turned away. "It doesn't matter, I'll swim if I have to."

"Don't be dumb, this place is like the North Pole. Your heart will freeze." Tai countered calmly.

"Then we'll build a raft from the trees, okay?!"

Tai put both his hands on the blonde boy's shoulders. "Matt, calm down! Everyone is fine! I'm sure everyone is getting along fine, even though we're separated!" then he added, "By the way, doesn't it concern you where this island is headed?"

"By the way?"

"And isn't it nuts that this Sirene nymph lady turned out to be Kylie's true mom?!"

Dana actually looked at Tai as if he'd grown two-heads, "You mean the missing nymph? What are you talking about?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Theo grabbed both boys and split them up. "First off, Matt, snap out of it and get a grip!" she snapped, then turned to Tai, "Second, Tai…"

The boy backed up a little not wanting to risk her anger either.

"Say that again."

"I've been thinking that it could be headed towards the realm on the other side of the sea, like Devimon said."

Before Matt could even speak, Theo shook her head. "No, no, right after that one. What's this about Kylie and her mom?"

"Don't make up excuses to distract from the actual problem here!" Matt retorted.

"It's not an excuse! Devimon actually said Kylie is-"

Theo grunted in frustration. "You're so obsessed about finding your brother, you don't even notice that you're just coddling him against his will!"

"Is there anything more important than looking for the others?! What's this talk about the 'other side of the world?' You can go there by yourself! I'm going to go save T.K.… and the others!"

Tai ran after him, only to end up in a physical fight with Matt. By then Agumon and Gabumon had run out of the cave, calling out their respective partner's names trying to get them to stop fighting. Theo and Dana were so aggravated by their brawl, that they looked ready to ready to rip the boys' arms off.

"That insensitivity of yours is what ticks me off!"

"What did you say?! You little!"

The boys had ended up rolling down a hill close to a cliff! Tai was right on top of Matt. "You…!" He was about to punch Matt right in the face, only to see tears streaming down the other boy's cheeks.

"T.K.… He can't do anything on his own!"

"You know I can't pummel you if you start the waterworks." Theo grumbled.

"Well I think we had enough of you two fighting for ever petty little thing!" Dana finally yelled, getting their attention.

For being the smallest and youngest of the guardians, it was remarkable how much she had in common with her older sister Beth: her mouth.

"I say we also got to think of Kylie! And what she and the other girls will think of this… mess!" Dana added. "You're not the only one worried! And didn't you hear Tai?! She's in the same kind - maybe even more danger than all of us!"

"How?"

Theo joined in, "Think about it: Sirene revealed to be Kylie's blood mother… that would make her Sirene's heir, the one Devimon is so intent on destroying! And if I know anything about this kind of story twists, that means he's out to get her first!"

Just then the cliff broke send the boys falling, Tai only had enough time to grab onto a branch and to Matt's hand. "I won't let go, even if we end up dying!"

Agumon and Gabumon were trying to climb down after us. Except they're all attacked this time by a furry digimon that lived in the area called a Mojyamon.

The cliff than broke as did the branch sending them toppling right on right on top of Frigimon's head. Dana and Theo had transformed to see if they were alright.

"What are you doing? You scared me, falling out of nowhere like that." Frigimon gasped, sitting up.

"You saved us!"

"That was good timing, Frigimon!" Tai said.

"You're welcome. Here, look." He then showed the group what he was carrying. "I brought food for you. And some herbs for the cold."

Gratefully they ate up the berries then Frigimon handed Gabumon some herbs for his cold. Matt's digimon began to chew on them before making a face. "It's bitter!"

Again they were attacked then it turned into a fight between them vs the Mojyamon. Somewhere during the battle, they broke a piece of the cliff's wall revealing to be full of black gears. It could be the only explanation to why the island pieces were moving.

"Those black gears are what separating Matt and his brother T.K." Garurumon said. "Fox Fire!"

Upon breathing his blue fire at them, they broke and began short circuiting.

"Huh? What happened to me?" Mojyamon woke up. "I think I was making a ruckus…"

"It wasn't your fault." Agumon reassured him.

"It's all because of the black gear." Gabumon chimed in.

"Really?"

"They're right. It was the same for me." Frigimon added.

And to everyone's great surprise, the gears start to turn in the opposite direction: Right back to the main center of File Island.

Tai pulled out his telescope. "Infinity Mountain is getting closer! We're going back!"

"Alright!" Theo and Dana cheered.

"And that's where Devimon is."

"Guess we shouldn't waste time fighting." Tai said, receiving a nod from Matt. "I'm sure T.K. is doing his best."

"Yeah. He is my little brother after all."

Now all they had to wait was wait until they got closer.

* * *

After their respective beds landed in the forest, Izzy and Beth rested long enough to recover their strength. By daybreak, they soon reached a large rock wall with ancient ruins carved into them.

"Izzy? I don't think this is the best time to admire those old ruins, we should look for the others, shouldn't we?" Tentomon was saying.

Izzy reasoned. "If I find out how these ruins came about, then that information might turn out to be useful later on!"

Beth appealed, "I like a good mystery in investigating an ancient civilization as much as the next person, but I don't think this is going be helpful in finding missing people."

"No, but perhaps it could uncover the link of this nymph… this Sirene and what connection she has with the Digiworld and Kylie's recurring dreams about her."

Beth sighed reluctantly, "I guess you have a point there."

They walked in with Tentomon flying close. Inside they walked into the main chamber room, Beth did a quick perimeter check, to see that they weren't booby-trapped, they weren't. Except most of them had significant cracks in them. Izzy mentioned that the walls had similar symbols of data he'd seen back in the factory the day Tentomon digivolved. And in the right hand corner, was a large black gear that was moving.

"That's… Devimon's black gear!" Izzy noted.

"You're right." Tentomon nods.

"If I can stop this, I'm sure the island will stop moving."

"Even if that's the case, we aren't enough to stop this large thing. Let's leave it and go look for the others."

"Tentomon, look. Do these symbols look familiar?"

"I think so…"

"That's because these are the same characters we saw back at the factory! The same one we met Andromon and where you first evolved into Kabuterimon."

"Now, that you say that, you're right!"

"I imputed all of the data I found then on my computer, but… If I could just find a power source…"

"You won't find something convenient like that here! Let's hurry and look for everyone!"

"But the lights are on…" Izzy thought aloud. "This looks like an electrical outlet. Could it be…"

Izzy pulled out his charger and placed it into an electric socket found on some black tree roots. "All right!"

"There's one thing that puzzles me about all this: Usually electronic devices don't work around magical environments, unless they're from the magic dimension or Zenith itself, they'd go haywire. Magic interferes with the functionality of No-maj technologies powered by electricity such as– computers, radar, and bugging." Beth explained her confusion, "Yet here in the Digiworld, even with me and the girls in such close proximity with all the appliances and such, they work with almost no trouble at all."

Beth's confession were what made Izzy pause briefly in surprise.

"I don't know myself, I've never even thought magic actually existed until we got to the Digiworld." He replied, sounding quite puzzled.

Beth added, "That's why I have a wild theory: that maybe this world has some magic of its own."

"After everything I've witnessed, it wouldn't be completely farfetched."

Minutes later he was typing again. Beth didn't pay too much mind, she'd already taken out a map and a scrying crystal.

"There they are!"

"Mimi!" Tentomon exclaimed.

Beth groaned in annoyance, "It just had to be Mimada."

"Tentomon! Izzy!" she'd cried excitedly, then she sighed miserably at the sight of Beth. "Beth."

"Ah, Mimi." Izzy was just rather neutral at Mimi and Palmon's arrival.

"I'm so glad to see you! Where are the others?"

"I don't know."

"Then let's go look for them!"

"No, this is imperative." Izzy replied going back to typing on his laptop, "If I analyze these characters, I might be able to find out what's going on with this island!"

"Who cares about that?"

"I've been telling him that we should go look for everyone…" Tentomon told her.

"Izzy!"

"I must decipher this right now."

After a while, Mimi took a seat with Palmon and Tentomon beside her. Beth merely ignored her.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Mimi asked. "Will something good happen if you find out what that is?"

"Izzy, Mimi is talking to you."Tentomon insisted.

Izzy however paid him no mind.

"Hey, do we get to go home if you find out what that is?"

"How should I know?" Beth retorted, "I wanna find out what the tenth nymph has to do with my sister."

"Well…" Izzy then muttered. "Oh, I see! This goes over here!"

Mimi stood up in frustration.

"Izzy!" Tentomon sounded a little panicked.

"Are you listening? When are you going to be done!?" Mimi demanded.

"Oh, did you say something?" Beth asked flatly from her spot on the floor.

"This is… These ruins are a maze!" Izzy commented out loud on his findings.

"You're not listening to me! Izzy, you… and Beth are both jerks!" Mimi snapped and began to cry. Abruptly Palmon started to cry too.

"P-Please don't cry!" Tentomon did his best to calm them. "Izzy!"

"Y-Your crying is only being a bother." The boy replied uncertainly.

Beth pretty much lost her temper with Mimi, she stood up in an attempt to tower over her. "Shut it! I've got enough to do without you coming in with your 'Hey, pay attention to me! Because I'm Mimi, and I ALWAYS have to be the center of attention!'"

"You're so mean!" Mimi sobbed.

"And you're big whining pest! It's a wonder Palmon can stand you!"

"Beth, that was uncalled for!" Tentomon sounded scandalized.

Mimi wailed. "I'm hungry! I'm thirsty! I want to see everyone again! I don't want to stay in here any longer!"

"Me neither!" Palmon agreed then rushed into Izzy's line of sight. "Why are you ignoring us, Izzy?"

Izzy looked mildly confused. "I'm not ignoring you."

"Then why aren't you listening to us?"

Beth answered back. "Maybe he's got the right idea, because you're so insufferable!"

Izzy tried to explain, "What's important right now is to analyze this data. You might not understand now… But in the end, it'll prove to be useful to Mimi and…"

"No more… I hate you both!" Mimi ran off into the ruins with Tentomon following after her.

"If you run into a dangerous booby-trap it'll be your own fault!" Beth yelled.

"Beth!"

"And now, you're going to tell me it's better for me as the oldest in the area to go after her…" Beth grumbled with a scoff. "Ugh, why did it have to be the whiner?!"

Unfortunately, Beth wasn't thinking straight and without knowing it she, Mimi and Tentomon had walked right into a maze.

"Right, this is the worst day of my life!" Beth griped.

"No! That, and all of this, is your fault and Izzy's! Really! The way he ignores people makes me so mad!"

"Well, it's true that Izzy lacks tact…" Tentomon admitted. "But he's not a bad boy."

"But it's true that in his eyes, I'm out of consideration!"

Tentomon continued, "When he gets caught up in something, he just doesn't notice anything else. I think he's really a good guy."

"You think you're miserable?! I'm stuck in some messed up old temple with a whining entitled brat!" Beth pulled on her bangs in exasperation.

At that moment however, Mimi took wrong step and just about almost fell through a deep chasm. Beth reacted fast and snatched her hand and forcefully pulled her back up. "Dang it, dang it!"

"Mimi, Beth, can you two hear me?"

"Not now, Izzy, I'm trying to catch my…Izzy?!" Beth had tried replying then stopped short.

Even Mimi paused, looking as surprised as Beth. "Izzy!"

"Good, they can hear my voice." Izzy must've confirmed it with Palmon, then he said to us via some loudspeaker. "I'll navigate you, so please go in the directions I tell you."

"Mimi, it's okay! It might not have ended up the way you expected… But Izzy is doing everything he can to help you both!" Palmon's voice spoke up next.

"See? It's just like I said." Tentomon nods.

"Ok, lay it on us." Beth answered.

"Please turn right from there. Then turn left at the next corner. But be careful when you get to the small room there, it has a pitfall."

The girls and Tentomon followed his instructions listening intently.

"There's probably a lot of pit traps where you are but according to the data, there's a message that reads. 'A road with a pattern is good, a road without is bad.' "

"Is that some kind of riddle?" Beth questioned.

"Pattern? What's what supposed to mean…" Mimi asked.

"Do you see any patterns out of the ordinary anywhere?"

"Let's keep taking a whack at it." Tentomon encouraged them.

"I think we have to follow these sun-shaped floor markings," Beth theorized looking at the floor.

It was risky, they had to be careful, for one misstep could end up in a long fall they made it through that chamber only to walk into another with large tiles that had different patterns on it. There was no away around, which mean they had to brave this new challenge.

"Oh boy…" Beth muttered.

"Uh…" Mimi's face fell.

"Another strange pattern here." Tentomon remarked.

Izzy's voice spoke to them, "This room is called 'the room of the Sun and Moon.' "

The three looked up to see a sun tile in the very start and could vaguely make out a moon-shaped on at the end.

"And there seem to be some rules about this room." Izzy was explaining, "After O is X, after X is square, and after square is O again. And time is irreversible."

"Did you get all that?" Tentomon asked.

"What's irreversible?" Mimi asked.

"It means unable to return to where you were before."

"O, X, square, and O." Beth started reciting the pattern rhythmically.

It was the only time Beth willingly takes Mimi on her back and carries her on the right tiles.

"Where do we go next, Izzy?"

"This is…"

"What is it?"

"What is this blinking dot? There's someone else besides Beth, Mimi and Tentomon inside that maze."

"Say what?" Beth stopped right in her tracks.

"But who?"

"Run! There's something close by! It might be a bad Digimon!" Izzy's voice urged them frantically.

They spun around at the sound of footsteps to see the approaching Digimon in question jump across the tiles without any trouble. It looked like mythical centaur. The majority of its body is covered with light brown fur, but its muscles are covered in a violet plating. It wears a helmet that reveals only its red mono-eye, and it only wears a shoulder guard on its left arm. Its left hand is metallic with a chain dangling from its wrist, while its right arm is a cannon.

Reacting at lightning speed, Beth grabs Mimi around the waist, pulls her onto her shoulder and runs.

"Turn left!"

They reached a form in the paths to run then Izzy gave out the next direction.

"Turn left again!"

Except they'd run right into a dead end!

"There's no place to run, and I can't evolve…" Tentomon was saying nervously.

Mimi spun around to look at him. "Why?! Evolve right now!"

"Well, even I want to evolve more than anything right now… But without Izzy, I can't…"

As the digimon approached, the walls began to shake then part of the wall broke down to reveal Izzy and Palmon.

The two children's respective digimon partners digivolved while Beth transformed. Unfortunately for them, it was a bit of tight spot for the two digimon that the two kids were pushed up against the walls of the room

"Hey, consider where you are before you start evolving!" Mimi grunted.

"I'm sorry." Kabuterimon rumbled apologetically.

Though Izzy wasn't in any better shape, he was almost impaled by Togemon's needles and a transformed Beth was nearly smooshed to the top of the ceiling due to the cactus digimon's height.

"Where's Beth?"

Beth's arm reached out into a thumbs up. "I'm okay!"

A shot from the Hunting Cannon shot them out of the ruins – quite literally.

"Good, we're finally out…" Mimi sat up.

"I don't think we should be feeling relieved just yet…" Izzy reminded her.

Centuarumon had followed them right out but now Kabuterimon, Togemon and Beth had the advantage. With a little convergence, a black gear was shot out from Centaurumon's back and instantly vaporized.

"Centarumon had a black gear!" Izzy cried.

"How could this have happened?" Centaurumon started to get up.

"Did you get your senses back?" asked Mimi.

But the Digimon had noticed something on Mimi's bag. What was he looking at? It turned out to the mysterious device, he then guided them back into the ruins straight into a room with a large symbol of the item engraved onto the wall.

"This is the holy device, the Digivice. I'm here to protect its ruins."

"A holy device…" Izzy muttered with great interest.

"Digivice?" Mimi questioned.

"So this was made by the forces of good? Cool!" Beth grinned.

Centaurumon explained. "It guides this world towards light while driving away the darkness… The legendary holy device."

"This is…"

"I don't really get it. But it's a good thing we have them, right?" Mimi shrugged.

"Hey, look at that!" Beth suddenly got their attention.

She was looking a large engraving of a woman with long flowing hair in a long dress with her arms spread out to the sky, she appeared to have several Digimon figures bowing in honor.

"Reminds me of the façade back in the temple of Magix, only back there you see nine nymphs instead of just one."

"Who is it?" Mimi wondered aloud.

Centaurumon replied. "That is Sirene, eons ago, she fell from the sky from another realm. A mysterious being of considerable power, restoring vitality to the land and in so doing, establishing a reign of virtue. It is said that the return of her heir would bring about protectors, among them those that wield the holy device."

"And where exactly was she from?" Beth asked.

"Magix she said was the name of a star."

Beth literally almost fell over in shock.

"Wasn't that name of one of the capitals you'd once mentioned?" Izzy turned to her.

"You never told me it was from outer space." Mimi said in surprise.

A bewildered Beth shook her head. "Because it isn't, it's supposed to be in another dimension right next door to Earth."

Someone stepped into the room, Centaurumon turned to see… "Leomon."

It was indeed, Leomon standing at the doorway and with that cold, pupil-less gaze. "Kill… the children… the guardians… They are interfering with our plans."

"Leomon, what's wrong with you?!" Centaurumon tensed.

Leomon only leapt right towards them, raising his hand in an attack. Mimi and Izzy winced, bracing themselves for impact but it never came. Centaurumon had saved them, holding on to Leomon's fist in a tight grip.

"These children hold the holy devices… After protecting these ruins for so long, it is now my duty to also protect these children and any that come to their aid!"

"Then you shall die as well. Fist of the Beast king!"

There was a brief scuffle which ended with Centaurumon crashing against the wall.

"Next are the children and the guardian. Kill them."

"No, you won't!" Beth snarled, leaping up to give a well aimed roundhouse kick at his nose.

A little blood came out but he then grabbed Beth's leg holding her up.

"Let me go!" Beth was yelling.

Mimi had held up her bag in meager defense not seeing the digivice screen glow a bright gold. Leomon stopped right in his tracks, dropping Beth.

Izzy gasped, connecting the dots. "I get it… this will help!" He took out is digivice and help it up up towards Leomon.

Mimi caught on and did the same, both digivices giving off a nearly blinding golden light. It was enough to make Leomon roar in pain and flee.

"Leomon escaped? I guess that means we're saved!" Mimi stated in relief.

Izzy looked at his digivice. "Is this the power of the holy device?"

"You know what? I've gotten hungry."

They returned to the main room where Izzy had left his equipment on the floor, and of course that gear was still moving.

"As I thought, I'll have to analyze this data with the data from these other characters. I'm sure I'll find a hint in here." said Izzy.

"Geez! I'll be an old lady by then!" Mimi whined, she stomped over to the black gear. "Really! This gear can't even fill my stomach!" Out of spite, she kicked it.

The moment she did, it started moving backwards and right back to Infinity Mountain. They all went outside to see for themselves.

"The island is moving backwards!" Izzy told them.

"Thank goodness!" Palmon was relieved.

Izzy turned to Mimi. "I see. Just like you said, Mimi, there are many things I should try out physically!"

"I'm hungry!" Mimi whined.

"There's fruit in the forest help yourself until then." Beth retorted.

"Hi, we meet again!" someone else's voice called out.

"Gah!" Mimi and Palmon yelped in disgust.

"What?" Beth wondered.

She and Izzy turned to see what they were staring at. It was a yellow blob in the shape of swirled cream with a large mouth that is usually shown wrapping around its entire cephalothorax, splitting it in half with a large tongue in the lower mandible. On its arm was a small bipedal rat-like creature with pink fur, large ears, and black eyes.

"Let's go on a romantic date!" "Let's go!" The two digimon continued calling out to Mimi and Palmon.

"Dudes, how old are you two?" Beth shouted out to them.

"Oh don't talk to them, you'll only encourage them more!" Mimi snapped, then said to the two other digimon, "Never! Do you hear?"

"NEVER!" And Mimi and Palmon both gave them the pink eye.

"Dude, she's ten years old, it'll never work out!" Beth yelled back at Sukamon to Chuumon. "How'd you get mixed up with those two yutzes?" Beth jerked a thumb at the two digimon on the other island.

Although they didn't always see eye to eye, Mimi had to admit Beth wasn't so bad after all.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Mimi sighed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zaira is adrift on a floating log, trying not to heave. Her bed had fallen into the sea and hit rock, she'd only enough time to get dressed and retrieve her belongings before it happened. And being acrophobic, she didn't want to transform to risk flying. So she'd held onto a log for dear life, not seeing that she was floating closer to the misty section where Sora and Joe were currently located. Vaguely she could hear their voices.

"It is, it's Zaira!"

"Zaira, over here!"

She felt herself being pulled out of the water and brought close to a campfire.

"First let me breathe, then I'll talk." Zaira told them.

Soon after they'd each explained what happened they heard the sound of bells. The fog slowly lifted to reveal a large cliff above the jungle canopy and sitting atop was a church.

Earlier, Gomamon Sora and Piyomon had told Zaira to go along with letting Joe be leader as a way to boost his confidence. So Joe insisted on checking out the church in search of humans. As they approached they could hear music, possibly a festival of some sort?

"The Leader goes first!" Sora said to Joe pointedly.

"Want me to go?" Gomamon offered.

Joe turned to snap, "Th-There's no need for you to do that! I'm the leader, so I'll do it!" He stomped off to look then returned with news. "Th-There really are humans here! A lot of them!"

At least they looked like humans. They were holding hands dancing in a circle and wearing strange masks. Around the trees, there were lights hung.

"What are they doing?" asked Gomamon.

"It looks kinda of fun." Piyomon remarked.

Zaira muttered dubiously. "I dunno this place looks kind of… off."

"Anyone got any idea why they're dancing?" Joe mumbled.

"This is a carnival where we give offerings to Lord Bakemon." Someone said having crept up behind them.

The group turned around with a startled scream. It had come from what appeared to be a man in priestly robes. Quickly they explained everything to him and he led them into the church with six other priests.

"I want to ask something." Gomamon then spoke up.

The priest stopped before turning around. "Go on."

"You mentioned Bakemon…"

"Yes?"

"The only Bakemon I know is… A ghost Digimon who lives in the Overdell Graveyard." Gomamon explained. "I really don't think he's worthy enough to be given offerings or to be called Lord…"

"Me neither." Piyomon folded her wings.

The priest wasn't pleased "I will not allow you to speak rudely of Lord Bakemon!"

"I'm sorry!" Gomamon and Piyomon yelped.

Zaira, in the meantime, was glaring suspiciously all around. Something wasn't right here and it would seem Sora soon pointed out why.

"Where's your offering? I don't see it anywhere…"

"It's here." He replied.

They all glanced around to find it.

"Where?" asked Joe.

"Our offering to Lord Bakemon is…" Suddenly the mask started cracking and broke away the disguise to reveal... a levitating ghost covered in a white cloth that hides its true form, leaving only its mouth filled with sharp teeth to be seen. "YOU!"

Of course, they all screamed. As it turns out the place was Overdell graveyard which meant all the so-called people from the party and the other priests were Bakemon too. The next thing the group knew, Gomamon and Piyomon were locked in the dungeons while Sora, Joe and Zaira were being prepped as an offering. Mostly likely as food.

"Let us begin to call forth Lord Bakemon!" One of the Bakemon declared.

They floated over them and began circling around until they all fused into one giant Bakemon with blue hands and sharp claws.

Just as it looked like they were doomed, out from the floor came Ikkakumon and Birdramon then flew out of the hole. Birdramon freed them using her own talons. Zaira took her chance to transform.

As Ikkakumon, Zaira and Birdramon fight the giant Bakemon, Joe and Sora run to hide behind some grave stones. Bakemon is winning but Joe is determined to help their partners beat him.

Joe got a brainstorm. "To fight against ghosts, you need to chant a sutra praying for God's good grace!"

"Chant a what?"

"By chanting the sutra, Bakemon's power will weaken!"

"Can you do that?"

"Yes!"

"Do you know any sutras?"

"My grandmother from the country-side taught me one so I could pray to do better on exams."

"Will that work against Bakemon-sama?" Sora wondered worriedly.

"It's a sutra, so it's gotta work!" Joe close his eyes and began to chant then he turned to Sora. "We need a ritual drum!"

They resorted to using Sora's helmet type hat as a drum to a rhythm. Surprisingly it worked as the Bakemon began to shrink.

"I don't' believe it…" Zaira said flatly.

"Ikkakumon! Birdramon! Zaira! Now!" Joe hollered.

"Harpoon Vulcan!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Lightning storm!"

The attacks hit until the Bakemon exploded into cloth shreds.

"We did it! We won!" Joe jumped about excitedly.

"I have no idea what just happened, but this is incredible!" Sora admitted.

Abruptly a large crack tore right through the cemetery. They all looked won to see black gears that soon fell apart, and Infinity Mountain getting closer.

"Everyone might be over there!" said Sora.

"Let's go see!" Joe agreed.

"Then we better move out!" Zaira nodded.

And so they set off in direction of the large mountain in the center of what was once File Island.

**_To be continued…_**


	6. Primary Village

Last time: _Tai, Matt, Dana and Theo meet up in the frozen area, Beth, Mimi and Izzy brave the jungle ruins and its keeper while Zaira, Joe and Sora survive a ghostly encounter. The only ones missing were Kylie, Patamon and T.K. who were wandering on another island section._

Kylie's own bed had floated down into a riverbank, once there she got dressed. She held the camping blanket close around herself, just trying to process everything she had learned.

The late Sirene was the missing nymph… her own biological mother… if they'd told her about it yesterday she'd have thought it merely the result of reading too many fantasy genre books.

But dwelling on it too much won't do any good, right now she needed to sleep to gather her strength to find the others and answers to the building questions.

* * *

Back on the top of Infinity Mountain, Devimon was not happy. "Why have you failed?!"

"My apologies." Leomon replied blankly.

"We were so close to getting them…" Ogremon was suddenly picked up by the neck. "Wh-What are you doing, sir?!"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!"

"Forgive me, Lord Devimon! Please forgive me!" Abruptly he was dropped. "Thank you."

* * *

The bed T.K. and Patamon had been riding on had fallen into a river and smashed into pieces of driftwood, no longer able to fly through the skies again. Finally the long night broke into dawn. The two kept still in the dark to hide themselves before the light arrived.

Among the group of seven Digimon, Patamon was the only one who had yet to evolve into a stronger form like everyone else. When the little boy thought back, he remembered that he had been in a situation almost like this only a mere week ago: Back when he had been all alone and had first met Tokomon. At that time, the Digimon had been whiter, plumper, and hadn't looked very dependable, yet T.K. had not felt the least bit worried.

But now in the daytime looking up at the enormous waterfall and having lost sight of his older brother and the others was enough to have T.K. burst into tears. Then when Patamon wonders what Piyomon would do, and understanding the longing to fly high like she does had the little digimon crying as well.

Kylie, who had finished her makeshift breakfast, hears T.K. and Patamon crying by a waterfall. She soon spots them and runs over to throw her arms around them. "Oh, you poor dears!"

The two were caught by surprise then T.K.'s teary face brightened when he saw who it was. "Kylie!" And he hugged her back tightly.

When it got lighter, Kylie, T.K. and Patamon began to walk while keeping very alert to their surroundings. Without a specific destination in mind, they decided to head towards the distant silhouette of Infinity Mountain.

"I wonder how my brother and everyone else is doing."

"I'm sure they're okay," Patamon replied. "They have my friends with them."

They were walking a cross a green field and stopped in front of a train crossing, the lights flashing red which usually signified that a train was coming. Yet there no sign of trains in sight let alone tracks. The lights stopped and the dividers rose up.

"Which way do you think is the right one?" T.K. wondered.

"It doesn't matter, I'll follow you wherever you choose to go, T.K." Patamon shrugged.

"When the bed I was on hit the riverbank last night, I sensed other energy signatures in this direction, perhaps we ought to check it out." Kylie suggested.

"We can do that."

They had arrived in a village whose ground was as soft as a cushion. There were very few places on this island that could be called a village. Of course, whenever they did reach a village, none of them housed humans, only Digimon. However, this village was particularly restricted on the type of Digimon that lived in it. For the buildings that surrounded it were made of a soft, fluffy material, with round corners that made them look like large, baby–proof toys.

"It's so pretty!" T.K. smiled.

"Yeah." Patamon nodded.

"Let's go look inside!"

"Okay!"

The two ran ahead of Kylie, who rushed after them not wanting to let the duo out of her sight.

"Wait," Kylie said with a light laugh, "I can't keep up – Oh!"

The ground was springy much like a giant trampoline of one of those bouncy castles. After a few minutes of jumping around, the three landed on their backs, giggling.

"This feels like a big bed! It's so soft!" T.K. said

"It feels great!"

"Well, that was fun!" Kylie said sitting up.

"It sure was!" T.K. grinned.

"Yeah, it was fun!" Patamon agree then noticed something they hadn't seen. "Look, there's something over there!"

T.K. followed his gaze to the left. "Let's take a look."

Curious, the three walked into a clearing filled with countless…

"Why, these are all cradles!" Kylie exclaimed.

What they didn't know was that all of the Digimon who lived there were small, ranging in size from a rice ball to an average–sized melon. The only Digimon here are Baby Levels who have just been born. Once they evolve one level, they leave.

They approach the one closest to them and look inside to peer at a small fuzzy black critter with round yellow eyes.

"What's this?" asked T.K.

"It's a Botamon, a baby Digimon." Patamon explained.

"It's so cute!" T.K. smiled.

"Oh how sweet! Hello little one." Kylie gasped, gently stroking it with a finger. Its body was soft as peach fuzz.

T.K. softly poked the baby with his own finger. "He's so soft."

"Well, it was just born." Patamon told them.

"What about the others?"

The next cradle had one baby digimon with a red gelatinous body is squishy, and three feeler-like things growing on its head.

"Who's this one called?"

"That's a Punimon."

"And over there?" T.K. asked referring to a cradle to their right.

The next baby's whole body was covered in a substance with the appearance of long, soft hair.

"This is a baby too? It's got a long beard like an old man!" T.K. remarked confusedly.

"Don't say that, poor thing!" Patamon said. "It's still a respectable baby. Its name is Yuramon."

Kylie commented. "More like it has silky fur much like that of kittens or puppies."

T.K. nodded wryly. "I guess so."

The little long haired baby digimon sneezed once, it was actually quite endearing.

"He's so darling!" Kylie gushed with delight.

T.K. then noticed the center of the village was another building made of a different substance. Within the round structure that looked similar to a silo were large, multi–colored eggs. Each one the size of an ostrich's which looked as if they had been painted in time for Easter.

"This is a Digiegg. All Digimon are born from this." Patamon explained to them as he flew over.

"Oh I see, so Digimon are born from eggs? They got a lot of common with little chicks." T.K. asked.

Kylie gently informed. "Like birds, reptiles and some species of insects, you mean."

"Yeah, that's right." Patamon confirmed, although he didn't completely understand what Kylie meant.

"Even Devimon?" T.K. then inquired.

Patamon's face fell. "Yes."

Even Kylie was a little uncomfortable herself, but tried to reassure them. "Well… it's not that odd, many of the enemies we've – that is to say, the girls and I- encountered were born the same way as humans."

Patamon then spotted a pink envelope with a letter on the ground. "Huh? What's this? 'Rub me.'"

"Rub?"

"But rub who?"

"Who? Maybe the Digi-eggs."

The egg began to shake in T.K.'s hands. Even all the ones in the fields began to do the same.

Kylie remarked. "I suppose that's the closest thing we're getting to a yes."

"Wanna try it?" Patamon asked.

T.K. nodded, "Sure. Let's pet this little egg."

The Digi-egg's shell cracked neatly in two and a small Digimon appeared from inside. Kylie and T.K. observed it closely. It looked soft and round, like a marshmallow. Although it was shaped differently, T.K. felt his breath taken away, as if he was looking at a human baby or that of an earth animal. The egg shell disintegrated into small fragments for an instant which fell away and turned into a cradle after the particles gathered underneath the infant Digimon.

"Oh, so that's how it works." Patamon said in pleasant surprise.

"You didn't know that's how it happens?" T.K. looked to him, "But you're a digimon."

"Hm? Well, I don't remember what happened when I was a baby. Do you, T.K.?"

"I…"

The little boy's earliest memory abruptly came back to him: His older brother gently shaking a rattle and playing with him. But why his brother? The next memory that came to him was when he was in kindergarten. His parents were arguing loudly about something. His brother went into the room they were in and spoke words he couldn't hear. Both of his parents became quiet. A little while after that, he began to live alone with his mother. From then on, his brother always had a broody look on his face… even though the brother in his earliest memory was smiling happily…

"I'm not so sure, I guess I don't remember." T.K. decided not to tell Patamon about it. Let's go pet and cuddle the other digieggs!

And he ran off with Patamon flying after him. "No fair, I wanna try to!"

"Well, I suppose staying here for a little won't hurt."

Unfortunately, most of the baby Digimon had started to cry. Kylie, T.K. and Patamon kept rushing from cradle to cradle to check up on them.

"Oh sweetie," Kylie scooped up a SnowBotamon in her arms. "Look who's holding a baby digimon…"

In a nearby cradle, a little Poyomon starts to cry too. "Aww, what's wrong?" Kylie held it in her other arm. "Do you want some attention too?" Immediately the little one stops crying. "Look who made a baby stop crying! Me! I did!"

"When you're done there, can you give us a hand?!" Patamon called out to her.

"Hey, this one already went in the crib!" T.K. called to Kylie, "What do I do?"

"Oh, er… I'll go get some baby wipes!" Kylie gently sets the two babies she was holding back in their cribs and rushes to her messenger bag. But the little ones began to crying again when she's out of sight.

"I'm very busy too, take care of it yourself!" Patamon suggested, going to cradle to cradle.

"And what am I supposed to do?!" T.K. griped after setting the Yuramon down briefly.

Kylie arrived wearing latex gloves, holding baby wipes and a small, disposable bag. "Just keep it entertained, while I clean up its crib!"

At the same moment she said this, T.K. noticed the baby wandering off. "Wait, where are you going?!"

"You three!" They all turned to see a red fur–covered mammal that was as large as a dog, with androgynous features. What made it clear that this creature was not an earth animal but a Digimon was because of his many split–ended tails, and the fact that he could speak in human language.

"Sparking thunder!"

"Look out, T.K.!" Patamon quickly pushed him out of the way. .

Kylie transformed and deflected the shot with a blast of sparkling blue energy. "Are you insane?! There are children here!"

"That's dangerous!"

"What did you expect?!" The red Digimon answered back, running up until he was at least two feet away from them. "I was aiming at you!"

"Why'd you do that?!"

"Because you were coddling my babies!"

"Your babies?" The three questioned.

"Well, we did coddle them, but… What's wrong with that?" T.K. asked innocently.

All they did was try to look after the babies, not hurt them.

"Tsk Tsk." The red digimon shook one of his white claws at them whilst holding a Botamon. "Your lack of insight is so troublesome. Listen, the word 'coddle' not only means the usual definition of 'petting' someone, but also 'bullying' them as well!"

Kylie shook her head. "No. I know bullying and we've not hurt the babies in any way."

"She's right, they both mean something completely different."

"That's weird." Patamon expressed. "Anyways, we weren't bullying them. Just looking over them."

"That's just it!" The Digimon said. "Let me tell you this, no one asked you to take care of them in the first place!"

"You tell us off, but what are you to the babies anyway?" Patamon demanded.

"What am I? Well, I'm their guardian, their housekeeper, their food provider, and..."

"So you're their father, then?" Kylie asked.

The Digimon, Elecmon, was absolutely baffled. "I don't even know that word. Point is, I look after these babies and that's that. Not you brats!"

"Shut up, you're still a brat too!" Patamon yelled, getting irritated.

"Now, I'm mad!"

Before T.K. or Kylie could hold either of them back, the two digimon tackled each other in the air into an intense brawl.

True, T.K. would've liked Patamon to evolve, but preferably against an actual opponent with malicious intentions not someone with misguided over-protection. Kylie had already flow up to to try and split them up with no success and the fighting was already starting to affect T.K.

"Stop… please… STOP!" The little boy actually shouted.

Surprisingly the two small digimon did so.

T.K. then walked right up to them. "Stop it, you two. Fighting is bad. You're scaring the babies too."

Patamon was holding a Poyomon and apologized to it. "Sorry for scaring you."

"You're not one to talk so familiarly towards my babies, you brat!" Elecmon insulted once again.

"Hey, did you know this? The ones who think they're grown-up are actually the most childish. Aren't they dumb?"

Elecmon turned to glare at him. "If you've got a problem, say it to my face! You're the type who puts on a nice face but talks about others behind their backs!"

"Will you two just calm down?!" Kylie rebuked. "Do I need you put you two in timeout much like Beth did to Matt and Tai?"

"Please, let me at him! I wanna settle things with this guy!" Patamon spoke out.

"So do I! Bring it on!" Elecmon challenged.

T.K. asked them. "Do you really want to fight?"

"Of course!" They shouted back.

"Then do it in some kind of competition… I know! I just thought of a good idea!"

* * *

As it turned out, T.K.'s idea was to let Patamon and Elecmon settle their differences via a tug of war with T.K. dressed as the referee – though the clothes looked more like the robes of an ancient official. While Kylie and the babies watched as the audience.

So the two started pull on the rope each, with a little elbow grease, Patamon won.

"Well? Wanna go again? We can keep doing it until you're satisfied." Patamon said to Elecmon.

"Keh! Don't take pity on me! A loss is a loss. Welcome to the Village of Beginnings. You're warmly received here."

"The Village of Beginnings? Is that what this place is called?" Kylie asked.

"Yeah, that's right. All of the Digimon are born in this village. That's why it's called the 'Village of Beginnings.' I'm Elecmon. I defend this place."

The main dish that was served in this village was the fish that Elecmon caught in a nearby stream. With just one electric shock that he released from his tail feathers, he could gather a large number of them all at once. After the fish was grilled, the three visitors ate their fill.

Elecmon then said. "Some weird stuff's been happening around here, y'know? And to top it off, the island breaks apart… I started being wary of outsiders. Well, I guess this goes to show I'm still too much of a brat!"

"Fighting between little kids is fine, because you'll make up soon. But fighting between adults…" T.K. looked a little down.

"You're surprisingly stronger than you look!" Elecmon commented to Patamon.

"Then I look? I don't think I like being judged by the size of my appearance." Patamon said.

"Heh, my bad. But it's really like you said. Er, what was it again? 'A grain of pepper may be tiny, but it's still sharp on the tongue,' or something like that."

" 'A pansy may be tiny, but it's still sharp on the tongue?' Have you ever eaten pansies before?"

"Huh? Did I mess that up? Oh whatever."

"You can rest as long as you want here! Though I guess you can't really do that since taking care of the babies is a full time job."

"Thank you." Kylie nods, "Although I'm afraid there is one pressing matter."

"Yeah, do you know how to get back to that mountain?" T.K. asked.

"M-Mountain? Y-You mean, Infinity Mountain?!" Elecmon turned briefly to gaze at the mountain then back at T.K. "And you're not scared?"

"Yeah."

"Are you crazy, y-you want to climb that mountain? That's where Devimon is!"

"We know. I have to go and ask him where my brother and the others are."

Kylie looked alarmed.

"He's not going to quietly tell you the answer. After all, he is an evil Digimon! If you really want to know, you'll have no choice but to defeat him." Elecmon told T.K.

"I don't want to fight!" T.K. responded scornfully. "It's horrible!"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Kylie was shaking her head at him.

"There has to be another way. Some way we can settle things without fighting." Patamon said.

"If there was…" Elecmon mused.

"Think back on what you felt a moment ago. We all laughed together, remember? I think something will happen… When our hearts become one." T.K. was saying.

"Something…"

"Will happen?" Patamon asked.

"Maybe…" Elecmon then started to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To the Gear Savannah, right to the Pyokomon village there. I'll tell them about what happened here! Maybe if we get our hearts to become one, the island will join back together again into one piece!"

"And the island will be like it was!" Patamon exclaimed.

"It's just a feeling… But that's what I want to believe!"

"Be careful!"

"Good luck!"

T.K. then looked back at the mountain grimly. "Onii-chan…"

* * *

Neither of them realized that they were the most fortunate. Four of the guardians, the other children and Digimon fought for their lives as they were either attacked by Digimon controlled by black gears or chased by the green monster.

Nor that they were being observed by the villain himself.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." Devimon mused, "The best thing was to eliminate the Digimon before any of them had a chance to evolve… preferably before Sirene's heir discovered her powers. That mean this last one that hasn't turned must be done away with. If I succeed, the Chosen ones will be confused enough for me to defeat them."

He then spread his wings. "Leomon!"

"Yes."

"Take care of it."

"As you command…"

"Excuse me, how can I be useful, sir?" Ogremon asked.

Devimon smirked. "Hmm. Since you failed, there are no tasks for you. But I want you to be prepared for the final fight, understand?"

"As you wish. This time I'll finish them!"

The moment approaches. File island has put it's destiny at risk, the fight between good and evil…. Light and darkness was about to begin.

* * *

"Kylie, what did happen down there with you and Tai? What was Devimon saying to you?"

"I'm not sure you're ready…"

The little boy actually put his hands on his hips, looking quite stern. "That's what everyone keeps telling me, I'm eight years old and I'm tired of being treated like a baby just because I'm the youngest. I wanna know."

"Maybe you'll feel a lot better by letting it out instead of just keeping it bottled up." Patamon suggested.

Kylie bit her lip, T.K. and Patamon continued staring at her. She sighed, "Last night, I found out the truth about my origins, and it's worse than I imagined. I was told this world, well that one another area far across the sea is where I was born. And Sirene, you know the missing Nymph whose been calling for me in my dreams? It turns out… she's my birth mother."

T.K. was astonished, Patamon appeared to be trying not to meet her gaze.

"According to some obscure ancient law, as her heir, I'm supposed to become the Supreme nymph to the Digiworld and that's cool. But sadly, she'd sacrificed her life for me years ago."

"That's… sad." T.K. whispered, he was holding a Botamon in his lap, watching the setting sun.

The baby digimon fussed a little so T.K. passed it to Kylie.

Kylie then held the little digimon in her arms. "Oh, you're so adorable!" She kisses it on it's head and it begins to tremble.

"What's wrong?" T.K. asked, leaning forward.

"Feel itchy!"

Then to their surprise, there was a flash of pastel blue light, once it faded a Koromon was in Kylie's arms where the Botamon had been a few seconds ago.

"Oh, you digivolved!" Kylie exclaimed in surprise.

"Congratulations!" Patamon applauded with T.K.

All the babies cheered, then Patamon looked thoughtful. T.K. then noticed the expression. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing…"

"Do you want to evolve too?"

"N-No, I'm not thinking about that! I don't mind staying like this! So I can be right by your side, I don't want anything to separate us, T.K."

"It's a promise. We'll always be good friends forever!"

"Of course!"

The two then locked arm and wing together as a handshake much to the delight of the babies and bringing a smile to Kylie.

By the time the sun began to sink over the horizon, the hand of darkness was already creeping towards the Village of Beginnings.

**_To be continued…_**


	7. Angel in disguise

Atop a cliff that overlooked the village, there stretched a long man–like shadow with the large mane of a lion. The shadow unsheathed its sword with its left hand. The blade glittered as the sunlight reflected on it.

The baby digimon reacted fearfully having noticed Leomon before T.K., Kylie and Patamon did.

Patamon saw the light sparkling out of the corner of his eye. When he turned, he saw Leomon dashing down the side of the cliff so fast it looked like he was sliding down it.

"Look up!" T.K.'s partner cried.

Patamon still could not evolve to the next level and there wasn't a chance that he could win against Leomon as he was now. They also couldn't endanger the baby Digimon in this village. All they could do for now was flee.

"Hurry!" Kylie urged T.K. into the forestal area.

Finally understanding the situation, T.K. ran after Patamon. They hurriedly left the village to hide in the forest, but whenever they turned to look, they could still see Leomon chasing after them. The leonal digimon had slowed down considerably, but at this rate, he'd catch up to them at any second.

"If we can just take out the black gear in him…" Patamon was saying.

"Except it's no gear, but something else entirely!"

"Can you hear me, kid?!" Ogremon's voice called out. "I know you're out there somewhere too, little princess!"

T.K., Patamon and Kylie looked around to see Ogremon in the village holding a frightened Poyomon in his left hand.

"Hiding like a sacredly cat, aren't' ya?" He taunted then lightly touched the squirming baby digimon with his club. "You'd better come out and show yourselves, if you don't, this one here is gonna get it!"

The hiding three were aghast.

"What do we do?" T.K. whispered.

Patamon seemed to be thinking, debating silently the best move. Kylie then whispered to the two, "Our best chance is that I fly out and snatch away the baby. That can cause enough of a distraction so that the two of you can escape!"

"But where do we go?" Patamon asked.

"Further into the woods," Kylie replied, "On the count of three, I'll transform and fly out while you run."

T.K. and Patamon nodded.

"One…two…thr-" Kylie was cut off as Leomon had cut down the tree close to where they'd been hiding!

At that moment a long line of blue fire shot out from within the forest. The flames slipped through the trees, past Kylie, T.K. and Patamon, until they reached all the way to Leomon. Even Leomon had to stop to keep from being burned by the rush of flames.

"T.K.!"

Garurumon was rushing out of the forest at full speed towards them. Straddled on his back was T.K.'s older brother, Matt.

The boy jumped down from Garurumon's back in front of T.K. and Patamon. "I'm sorry for getting here so late, T.K.!"

Having decelerated only enough for Matt to get down, Garurumon dug his claws into the earth and shot out towards the edge of the forest, straight for Leomon. Leomon brandished his sword, which Garurumon repelled with his tough fur. Jumping back to gain distance, Leomon got back into position. The two glared at each other.

"Don't forget about me, pussycat!" Theo taunted flying out.

"Garurumon AND the firebug?! They were close by?!" Ogremon exclaimed, he was so stunned by the sudden appearance that he didn't notice a pair of hands take the Poyomon. "Huh? Where'd it go?"

"I'm taking this little guy, if you don't mind!" Dana answered, in her hands was the Poyomon.

"Mind if we cut in?" Kylie quipped flying up to join the fight.

It turned into a fight between the kids' digimon vs a possessed Leomon and an angry Ogremon. But abruptly several black gears flew out and disappeared into Leomon's back, causing him to roar out in pain as he grew twice his size, his golden mane turning dark. Without effort, he knocked back Garurumon and Theo into the cliffside before doing the same to Greymon, Kylie and Dana.

He then set his blank sight to T.K. "The smallest child… must be destroyed."

Patamon shot his attack countless times to defend T.K. to no avail as he was soon snatched up into Leomon's hand and about to be crushed.

Togemon came out of nowhere and tackled Leomon, causing him to drop the little digimon. T.K. ran to his partner's aid. Mimi and Izzy were riding on top of Kabuterimon — who was flying in the skies about three kilometers away from the Village. Fluttering alongside, ready to do battle was Beth.

"This machine is the holy device, the digivice," Izzy explained as he held out the device in his hand.

"Holy device?" Tai questioned.

"It's these things!" Mimi held out her digivice to show him.

"Yeah, we found out that they have the power to eliminate the darkness!" Beth added. "Aim it at Leomon!"

Tai blinked, no doubt remembering when his digivice feel next to Leomon the day before. "Ok then!"

"Leomon, you're after all of us?" Tai said calmly walking towards him. "Try and get me!"

"Tai what're you doing?" gaped Matt, who was standing in front of T.K. protectively.

Leomon turned to him. "Chosen children… destroy!"

Quickly, Tai held up the digivice over his head. "Now, use this light!"

The light stopped Leomon right in his tracks. His mane stood on end as he let out a pained roar.

"Now I see what he's trying to do!" Matt murmured.

Running forward with his own blue device in hand, he held it out as he approached Leomon. As he drew closer to Leomon, the liquid crystal screen of the device began to glow.

When the two boys thrust both their devices directly at Leomon, light fell from all over Leomon's body, extending upwards to the height of a three–story building.

The black gears began to rise out from within Leomon's back. His roars grew even deeper as the gear came out completely, and he fell to his knees. The gears ascended the skies lazily, trembled within the light and was smashed into little pieces. The beam of light disappeared at the same moment when Leomon's eyes returned to their original color.

* * *

Minutes later, the group was sitting around Leomon in the grasslands. The girls have changed back from their fairy form and the children's Digimon had also returned to their child-level size.

Izzy was explaining how he knew the digivice idea would work. "We were lost in an underground maze and discovered that it had wall paintings that spoke of a legend passed along from ancient times. Within its deepest depths depicted an image of this little machine. It's a highly important object on this island. The Digimon that was defending the maze, Centarumon, told us about it."

"That's not all, we found another one depicting Sirene the nymph, her arrival and almost everything about her life here in this world up until the birth of her only child. Mimi and Izzy saw it too."

Izzy and Mimi nodded their confirmation brightly. "That's right."

"Centarumon. Has he been doing well?" Leomon's baritone voice was deeply calm and composed.

It wasn't that they were similar but, for some reason, T.K. thought of his father when he heard that voice. Matt, on the other hand, was actually living with their father and even he could not say that that impression was completely wrong.

Izzy continued. "Yes. He told us that this Digivice is something that the 'Chosen Children' have. This world… Centarumon called it the 'Digital World' and apparently if this world is plunged into a danger that the Digimon themselves cannot handle, the 'Chosen Children' who have these Digivices will save it for them."

"I can only take a wild guess here and assume that we- that is to say me and the guardians present…" Beth theorized. "As protectors of the barriers leading to the magic dimensions and their denizens, we were summoned here as extra muscle."

"Yes… That is how the legend goes," Leomon said, picking up the story. "Rumors had begun to spread among the Digimon recently, that the 'Chosen Children' would finally arrive to save our world with the aid of powerful guardians. Days ago, a new rumor sprang up that someone had seen something bright falling from the heavens and that it was the Chosen Children with the guardians, one of them was Sirene's heir. The island is now indeed being overrun by the powers of darkness. That's when you appeared."

"So that's why you call us the Chosen Children." said Tai.

"But you have no proof." Matt responded.

"The Chosen Children are said to have the power to enable Digimon to evolve, the same as you all do."

"If that's true…" Izzy looked thoughtful. "Then if we destroy the darkness, we'll still be needed to balance out this world."

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked.

"In other words, we may or may not return to our own world."

"Are you serious?" she gasped.

"Never say never. If there's a way in, there's a way out – we just have to find it." Beth interjected.

"Chosen Children…" Tai murmured. He saw that the rest of the children were just as troubled as he was, even after Leomon's words.

Leomon went on to explain that when other Digimon evolved, they did not return to their previous level. Whereas, Agumon and the others evolved to protect their partners and returned to their size after battle.

Zaira suddenly mentioned, "Except one other detail, Sirene the nymph was said to have disappeared thirty years ago."

"Thirty years?!" Leomon interrupted, "That cannot be. She arrived to our world one millennium ago."

Now it was the kids turn to fall over. One millennium?!

"Right, and I'll be 80 by my next birthday." Kylie said sarcastically.

"I suppose a time warp glitch might be plausible." Izzy speculated.

"In any case, I can't possibly be her heir, she'd be much older than I am."

Leomon then elaborated, "Wait, Sirene's heir had a birthmark on her shoulder."

To prove a point each of the older girls revealed her shoulders except for Dana.

"You can easily count me out, I'm too young to be her." The youngest guardian explained.

In effect each of the girls shoulders were bare. Except for one detail: Kylie, Beth noticed was only showing her right shoulder.

"Huh! I knew it," Matt said disdainfully. "I told you it was crazy."

"What kind of birthmark was it?" Beth asked Leomon pointedly.

"It was in the shape of a star."

Beth and Dana exchanged stunned looks before glancing over at Kylie, who was looking sheepish. The two sisters jumped their adoptive sibling and pulled part of her shirt, the left shoulder area. On it was a birthmark shaped like a star.

"She IS the one!"

"You are our hope," Leomon continued. "You are the only ones who can defeat the powers of darkness."

"But we should look for Zaira, Joe and Sora first. We'll need everyone if we want to beat Devimon, at any rate." Kylie spoke up, "We may need the power of premonition to give us some edge."

"I understand that you are worried about your comrades, but it appears we're running out of time," Leomon said as he pointed above them.

Black gears were whizzing about in the sky that was approaching twilight. It was not one but many, a multitude, all of them heading towards Infinity Mountain. Why it then, that Devimon laid so many elaborate traps to kill the children and the guardians? Why the necessity of using Leomon and Ogremon?

The answer to that must be because he was afraid of the power the children's six Digimon had when they evolved and of the guardians growing abilities. Devimon himself may not have a very strong offense; but if he was gathering up the powers of darkness that could only mean that…

"He's trying to obtain more power."

If they don't beat him quickly to stop him from doing so, they may never be able to.

"Let's do it, guys," Tai stood up. "We can't survive here unless we beat him. Even if we stay here out of harm's way, we'll only end up being chased down."

Izzy was the next to stand up. "You're right. Besides, we have the power of the holy devices!"

"I'll work hard! I'm scared… but I want to go home!"

Palmon assured. "We'll fight too, Mimi!"

"We've recovered our energy too." added Tentomon.

"I'm ready to fight any time you are!" Agumon cried.

With Leomon in the lead, the group headed towards the mountain. Matt deeply wished to leave T.K. in the village, but there was the danger that his little brother would be attacked if he was left alone.

"Besides," Leomon told them, as he thought back on while he was controlled by the black gear, "I remember being persistently ordered to kill the smallest child. I'm not sure of the reason behind that."

They could see an unfamiliar structure on top of Infinity Mountain. It was a stone building that looked like a Greek temple. Nothing like that had been there yesterday. Black gears flying through the air were sucked into that building one after the other. Each time that happened, something evil expanded from within. Even the group could feel it.

Dark clouds had assembled overhead before they were even aware of them. Twenty meters up on the edge of the road from where they had begun climbing at the foot of the mountain, the children tilted their heads back to see something suddenly glint from within the white building that contrasted so deeply against the black clouds.

"L—Look!" Mimi shouted.

The building began to crumble. Something appeared to be swelling from the inside until it blew away the roof of the building. What came out first were a pair of bat wings. As they stretched out, the body that they were attached to rose from within. It was Devimon. But his size…

"Why, why is he so big?!" Mimi cried, her voice already risen in a frightened scream.

"He's absorbed the powers of darkness," Leomon snarled unhappily. "We're too late!"

Devimon spread his wings and flapped them once, lazily. As he swiveled in the air, he began to descend in front of them.  
They could clearly see how big he was as he drew closer. Devimon landed on the ground below them, his full height stretching much farther than the trees and his back towering before the children.

The group became speechless. Devimon turned to face them, his enormous wings generating wind pressure that blew the children backwards until they smacked against the mountain surface. "Fools. This place will become your graves."

Devimon raised one of his enormous hands to emit a ray of darkness. It bound the children and the guardians so painfully that they couldn't move. None of them could lift a bone in their bodies.

Something shot out from the forest that stretched out behind Devimon. They were Ikkakumon's horns! The rapid fire of those horns threw off their covering in midair and the live missiles inside flew towards Devimon. The explosions continued consecutively.

"You did it, Ikkakumon!" They heard Joe cry out from within the forest Devimon stopped radiating darkness and turned. This time, fireballs fell down from the sky. They were flung from the wings of Birdramon, Sora's Digimon.

Zaira flew into view, already in Charmix mode. "Sorry I'm late, but you need to transform right now!"

"Evolve now while you still can!" Sora came racing up the mountain path. Both she and Joe had sensed where the battle was taking place and had hurried to it, arriving just in time.

"All right, let's go!" Agumon stood up. The gauge of Tai's Digivice jumped up. Gabumon, Tentomon, and Palmon also evolved.

All of them attacked simultaneously. Fire and electricity hit Devimon, and they all thought that their prospects had turned for the better. But their attacks had no effect on Devimon due to his colossal size.

"Clever of you," Devimon said with a sweep of his arm. Both Digimon and transformed guardians were knocked away as if they were insects hit by a rolled up newspaper.

"No way!" Tai cried out. The children stared on, dumbfounded.

Devimon turned his back on them again and reached into the forest to pick up Ikkakumon with an outstretched hand. Ikkakumon was flung upwards until he hit Birdramon in the skies. Both fell to the ground without the least resistance. Unsheathing his sword, Leomon leapt at Devimon's back to attack when all of a sudden, the upper half of Ogremon's body appeared from it.

"I'll be your opponent!" Ogremon sneered. He slammed his club downwards at Leomon, who was unable to change posture in mid–flight to avoid it. The lion Digimon received a direct hit and was struck toward the ground.

"I was changed into black gears and now I've become one with Devimon! I won't be losing to you no more!" Laughing loudly in exaltation, Ogremon drew back into Devimon's body again.

Greymon and the others didn't give up just yet. Flying at Devimon, at his feet, hands and shoulders, they bit into him with their fangs and held on with each of the five guardians shooting every spell they could think of at him. But to Devimon, they were the size of mere toys. "You worthless maggots!"

Releasing darkness from his entire body, the guardians and Digimon were blown away. As they fell to the ground, they found they couldn't move anymore.

"I'm sorry, Tai," Greymon groaned in apology.

"We wanted to send you back to your own world, but…" Togemon said, her voice trembling with tears.

The children couldn't move either. The frequent rays of darkness that had bound their bodies had left them feeling weak. Many of them felt faint, as if they would collapse into unconsciousness at any moment.

Yet the guardians were determined to protect the smallest of the group. Dana was the nearest, so she was forcing her body to crawl towards T.K., even as Devimon slowly stretched out his hand.

"Little Chosen child. With you and the heir gone, nothing will stand in my way," Devimon said with a malicious smirk.

"Run, T.K.!" Matt shouted. But just like him, T.K. was unable to move.

Something could be heard hitting against the palm of Devimon's approaching hand. Patamon was still by T.K.'s side, using his sole weapon, 'Air Shot.' Inhaling air into his mouth, he shot it out tirelessly at high pressure. But of course, that alone wouldn't stop Devimon's hand from moving.

'This isn't good enough.' Patamon knew best how powerless he was. 'Why? Why am I the only one who can't evolve?!'

He couldn't stop the tears that dripped down his cheeks.

Dana kept crawling towards them, sweat dripping from her forehead. 'I have to protect T.K. and Patamon, Can't let Devimon win…!'

"Patamon!" T.K. wailed in terror.

Devimon's hand was going to form around T.K., getting ready to crush the little boy to death in his grip.

"T.K.!" Patamon flew right into that hand, just before it squeezed tightly around them.

Using only a mere amount of his strength, both T.K. and Patamon would be pulverized without leaving any identifiable traces. The corners of Devimon's mouth lifted, his smile reflecting the confidence he felt that he had won.

But some change took place inside that hand. Scorching pain shot through Devimon's palm so suddenly that he involuntarily unclenched his fist. Blinding white light flooded out from within. Blinded by its brightness, Devimon drew back his hands to shield his eyes.

"That's…" Izzy whispered.

"The light of evolution!" Sora gasped.

The light ascended to a high place above Devimon's head and what the little digimon became took their breath away.

"Patamon, digivolve to… ANGEMON!"

Humanoid in body and covered in holy white clothing, a long blue loin cloth with matching four straps on his right leg, and six, white, feathery wings. His long, copper blond hair fell to his thighs, and its upper face concealed by a silvery helmet.

"How I wish I had my painting supplies for this…" Kylie mumbled in awe.

Matt was beyond stupefied. "I can't believe it… that's T.K.'s Digimon!"

Dana had never stared at anyone this way. Angemon was so different from the rest. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat. He was so _beautiful_.

T.K. was amazed. "Patamon evolved!"

Devimon cursed. "…I was so close!"

Angemon then spoke. "I will obliterate your powers of evil." He knew what he had to do. Hoisting up the golden staff he had over his head, he cried, "Come to me, oh holy powers!"

Tai's, Matt's, and everyone else's Digivices shot out beams of light, the same with each Charmix pin or pendant. That light extended until they reached Angemon's upheld staff.

Light also shot out from the immobile bodies of the Digimon on the ground. All of the light was absorbed by the staff. Greymon and the others gave all of their power to Angemon and returned to their Child forms.

"If you do that, it will destroy you, too!" Devimon snapped.

Angemon was amassing energy so explosive that it could obliterate his own body. "But there is no other way," Angemon answered coldly. "Even if it means sacrificing my life!"

Devimon was afraid. Even before this evolution, he knew that this Digimon would be his worst enemy. That was why he had attempted to end everything before this Digimon had a chance to evolve. As if sensing that fear, Ogremon flew out from Devimon's body and headed straight for Angemon.

Stretching his upper body, he brandished his club and it looked as if he could hit Angemon. But when he was touched by the light of Angemon's staff as it swung downward, Ogremon bounced backwards as if he had been hit.

The powers of darkness could not even bear to touch the holy powers. The momentum threw Ogremon back, so far that he flew out of Devimon's back and left a gaping hole that was once where his mass was.

"Angemon!"

"Wait, it doesn't have to be this way!" Dana added.

Angemon merely turned his head towards them.

"I'm sorry, T.K." He reluctantly apologized.

Angemon concentrated all of the holy power within his body into his right fist and fired with one strike. "Hand of Faith!"

The golden light ripped through Devimon's chest and continued expand, until everything visible in their surroundings was filled with light. Devimon's body, which had been made up of molecules of darkness, began to cave in from the inside out.

"That was foolish of you, Angemon! What was the point in exhausting all of your power here?" Half of Devimon's body had already disintegrated, yet he spoke as he disappeared, "The powers of darkness aren't spreading in File Island alone. Across the sea… There are more Digimon with greater evil powers than I! Soon your death will come, and evil shall rule for all time!"

With a final uproarious laugh, which echoed ominously long after he was gone, Devimon disappeared. Angemon only looked grim, his own body was crumbling into bright white particles.

"Angemon…" T.K. could only whisper.

He looked down to gaze at T.K., who was staring up at him with a stunned look before turning his gaze over to Dana as well.

"I'm sure we'll be able to meet again." Angemon said with a gentle smile. "As long as you both wish for it."

With those last words, he disappeared into sparkling particles.

"ANGEMOOOOON!" T.K. screamed in devastation.

After he had begun to live separately from his father and brother, T.K. had swore to himself that he never wanted to be separated from anyone ever again. But now, to be forced apart from Angemon… from Patamon like this, he had never… never…

T.K. was unable to understand what he was thinking or what he was feeling anymore, when several white feathers dropped gently before him. They were from Angemon's wings. As they gathered into a neat pile, they turned into a round shape and became a large white egg with orange stripes.

"It's a Digiegg."

In his state, T.K. did not know who had spoken up. Only vaguely did he sense that his brother, Tai, Agumon, Gabumon, and everyone else were standing around him.

"Patamon is starting over again as a Digiegg."

"If you raise him up carefully, you'll surely see each other again." Palmon chimed in.

Gently, T.K. embraced the egg in his arms. "I promise to take good care of you."

Dana tearfully put her hand on his shoulder kindly, "I'll help too."

T.K. could only nod.

* * *

With Devimon defeated, all the island pieces began returning into place. Less then five feet away, a vial fell from where Devimon had stoof previously and shattered on the ground.

"What is this stuff?" Sora asked, cautious to get close.

"It looks like, blood." Izzy remarked.

"Black blood?" Matt said.

Wait...black blood... Kylie thought to herself. "NO ONE TOUCH IT! We must purify and burn it with our guardian powers, before it seeps into the ground!"

Greatly alarmed by her tone, and still jumpy from battle, the other guardians did so, incinerating the baleful liquid.

"Strange, I wonder why Kylie had such a reaction to that stuff that appeared when Devimon was killed..." Beth wondered.

"It just...it felt wrong, disturbingly wrong." Kylie whispered to herself.

"But… didn't Devimon say that there are more powerful evil Digimon over the ocean, didn't he?" Matt recalled.

"More of them?" Zaira croaked, she sat down on a rock weakly.

Joe groaned. "And I thought we could go back to our own world…"

"We still have to fight?" inquired Mimi. "No way!"

"Oh yeah? Let's see you survive a mass murderer and you refuse to fight!"

"Get serious!" Zaira scolded Beth, "We already lost someone."

"Hey, you think you're the only discouraged with how easily we got our butts kicked before Angemon saved us?!" Theo retorted.

Tai said determinedly. "But we have to do it! No matter who our enemy is."

"I agree." Kylie piped up.

It was only a little while afterwards that a mysterious hologram appeared in front of the group from a pile of rocks. Within the cylinder of rainbow–colored light stood an old man. He was the first human they'd seen upon coming to this island. "I'm finally able to override the powers of darkness and contact you! You must listen very carefully to what I say now, Chosen Children. The same goes for you guardians and the Heir of Sirene."

**_To be continued…_**


	8. Journey to a new continent

Unknown, they were being watched by someone, seated on a throne, as a strange, mirror like digimon, showed the scene on a large, round mirror fastened on his left arm.

"Grrrr. SO CLOSE!" A female voice raged, and a female hand dug its black talons into the throne's arm, creating grooves. "After all that time and effort to create Devimon, and he failed to ONE digimon...an ANGEL. Of all the clichés..."

"What now, My Lady?" The digimon asked in a Shakespearean like voice.

"Now? Now we watch, and wait for another opportunity." The woman hissed.

Fresh from their victorious battle with the wicked Devimon, the five guardians, the Chosen children kids and their Digimon friends marveled at the swirling colors of the brilliant column that had abruptly appeared. Then they gasped as a mysterious being materialized inside the stream of light, floating five feet off the ground.

* * *

Up close, the old man was scarcely any taller than little T.K. What little hair he had left was tied up into a high ponytail.

The old man called himself 'Gennai'. What he had to say was not very good news entirely. Their mission did not end upon defeating Devimon. "Come to Server Continent and defeat the enemy here. As the Chosen Children joined by the Ethereal guardians, you should be able to do it."

"But we don't know how to get there." Izzy informed.

"Ah, true. Very well, I'll send you a map through your laptop."

Izzy looked at his laptop mystified.

Joe said. "But there's not a chance we can beat an enemy that's stronger than Devimon."

"Not so." Gennai responded. "You can, if your Digimon can evolve to an even higher level."

"We can evolve further?" Agumon questioned.

And in order to do that, they must search for crests, which were scattered all over the Server Continent. The Digimon wouldn't be the only ones getting an upgrade, so would the five guardians present. The prolonged exposure to the digivices would bring a new transformation possible, allowing them to use their magic easier in midair, on land or in different environments.

"Assuming it's just one digimon, Devimon implied there could be more than one." Beth said darkly then turned to Gennai, "Can you at least tell us more about them?"

Before Gennai could explain anything else, the pillar began crackling with static and the connection was cut, leaving the group with more questions.

"Guess we'll just have to rely on the locals to tell us who is public enemy number one." Theo comments.

Izzy checked his laptop at once. "It looks like he was able to send the map."

The Continent of Server sort of looked like East Eurasia except instead of Hong Kong, it had the Italian peninsula.

That same evening, they built a crackling campfire on the sandy shore while the sunset glimmered on the ocean. The stars rose above the surrounding palm trees. Gomamon popped out of the water with the main dish, a tasty fish he'd caught in his mouth. He smiled proudly as he paddled toward the gang waiting to eat. They stuffed their faces with berries, fish, and a few delicious roots Palmon dug up.

During supper, each of the group explained what had happened in the time they were separated. When they heard how Kylie found out about her past the hard way, they became somber. While T.K. was sitting on a tree stump and sadly rubbed the Digi-egg, missing Patamon.

"T.K.?" Matt asked, noticing how quiet his brother looked.

"It's nothing. I was just hoping my Digi-egg would hatch soon and grow."

Dana gently patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Matt tousled his little brother's hair. "Your Digimon will join everyone here soon enough."

"Yeah, you're right."

Tai jumped to his feet. "Well, then… Now that we're all nice and fed, let's figure out what we should do next."

"Gennai told us to come to Server Continent, but…" Sora told him.

Izzy pulled up Gennai's map on his laptop. "If this map is correct, it's a pretty far distance from here."

"I can't even swim beyond twenty-five meters. It's impossible for me." Mimi whined.

However Joe asked the uncomfortable question. "Do we really have to go? Why? Do we really need to go to this place and fight more enemies? Devimon is gone from this island. The black gears are gone too. Our one week stay here has made us more or less familiar with the landmarks. There's plenty of water and food too."

"What are you trying to say?" Sora broke in.

"Can we really trust what this Gennai said? Is there really a Server Continent?"

"There has to be, otherwise he wouldn't have given us the map." Beth pointed out.

Theo shrugged, "We can't stay here too long either, and eventually we'll all get cabin fever."

"Hey, what's all this?" Tai jumped up in front of him. "We can't go back to our world if we just sit here!"

Sora looked down at her feet, "It took all we could to defeat Devimon. But there will be even stronger enemies waiting for us."

"Besides, how can we cross the ocean to get to the continent?" Izzy added.

Mimi piped up. "There might be weird Digimon over there too!"

"Maybe we should keep a look on things here for a little longer." said Matt.

"Oh, come on, guys!"

"Let's go cross the ocean!" T.K. hopped right on his feet.

"T.K.!" Matt was completely stunned by his brother's steadfast declaration.

"I don't know what enemies are waiting for us, but let's try it! I'm sure that's what Angemon would have said. That's why… I…" He said it because he doesn't want to lose anyone else again.

Kylie then spoke. "Perhaps a small part of me doesn't want to go back home."

"WHAT?" They all looked at her in disbelief.

Kylie looked up at the sky. "This is such an amazing place, I don't know if I'm ready to give it all up. I do feel a little bad seeing as you were all dragged into this and the Digiworld is kind of dangerous, but… that's what makes it all so exciting! Besides, De… well, he confirmed that Server is where I was born."

There was an uncomfortable silence, no else knew what to say.

Kylie then straightened up. "I vote for crossing the ocean, on my own if I must. I want to protect the land that my mother loved so much."

"Well, I'm game!" Dana walked right up to her.

"Likewise!" Beth agreed, "If it's important to you, we're with you until the end!"

"Dangerous new lands and foes?" Theo mock-mused then threw a fist into the air. "I'm in!"

"We'll go too!" Agumon announced. "We can evolve further if you have the Tags and Crests, right? I'm sure we'll be able to protect you if we have them."

"Sora, let's go!" Piyomon pleaded.

"I'm sure things will work out!"

Palmon straightened up. "There won't be any other flower over there more beautiful than I am!"

"I can swim across the ocean carrying you if I have to!"

"Matt! Let's go!"

"Let's go." said Matt.

"Yeah. Let's go." Sora added.

"All right. I'll go too." Joe adjusted his glasses.

"If everyone else is going, than I am too!" Mimi spoke up.

"A new continent, huh?"

Even the reluctant Zaira had to give in. "Well, I guess someone has to keep an eye on all you."

"All right then. It's decided! Let's head to Server Continent!"

"Yeah!" They cheered.

The group had been hesitant over what to do, but his words firmed their resolve. In any case, even if they remained on this island, they wouldn't be able to return home.

* * *

Late that night, Kylie tossed and turned in her sleeping spot, in the grip of a powerful dream. With the intensity of a surfacing distant memory, she dreamed she was a baby, waving her little arms around her cradle, reaching for... her mother, Sirene. It was shocking—she'd been raised on Earth by her adoptive family, whom she loved very much.

"Aww," her mother cooed, leaning down to pick Kylie up out of the cradle. "Come here, darling—"

With a gasp, Kylie sat up, the dream shattering around her. She panted in the darkness for a long moment, trying to piece together the long-forgotten memory that had returned to her in the dream.

"My mother," she whispered sadly, her eyes filling with tears.

She felt overwhelmed with loss, heartbroken that she hadn't known the very person who had loved her as an infant from the very beginning. But there was also something wonderful about having had the quick vision of her birth parent in the dream.

Kylie looked around at the girls, the kids and their digimon. They were all still asleep and Zaira was still on watch for the night. Kylie turned sideways taking deep breaths in an attempt to get back to sleep, feeling both miserable and oddly comforted that she'd gotten a glimpse of her biological mother at all.

* * *

On the morning of their seventh day in the Digiworld, the group had gotten to work on building a raft that would take them to Server and gathering supplies for the journey.

Imagine their surprise when Leomon had walked right up, observing their process. "I've heard you're leaving for Server Continent."

"How did you know that?" Sora asked him.

"Some of us monsters love to gossip. I was wondering if you needed any help with anything."

Sora and Izzy smiled brightly.

"You'll really help us?"

"There are more than enough helping hands." Leomon replied then glanced behind him.

From the forest, several of the digimon they'd met during their stay on File Island have come to lend their aid. Elecmon the caretaker of Primary village, followed by Centaurumon and Mojyamon. Monzaemon, the giant teddy bear who watched over the toy town. Frigimon, a snowman like Digimon who lived in Freeze-land. Finally, the fiery Meramon joined the others, with a pack of floral Pyokomon at his feet. The group had rescued most of the monsters from Devimon's horrid Black Gears. The group welcomed them with happy, laughing cheers.

Leomon got right to work. "Fist of the Beast King!" he shouted as he knocked trees down with his power punch. The other Digimon helped Leomon with their own mighty attacks. Wood exploded in midair as blasts splintered the huge trees.

They made one that was more than wide enough to carry all seven of the children, the five guardians and then some.

Once they secured enough food, the children set sail: Towards the ocean, and towards Server Continent. Before departing, the Digi-egg that T.K. held in his arms hatched. The baby Digimon that was born from it immediately leapt right into his arms.

After the group had hurriedly constructed a raft that would take them off File Island into the ocean, they were met the next day with the appearance of a whirlpool and the attack of a large whale Digimon named Whamon… who then had swallowed them into his giant mouth.

Just when they were about to be dissolved inside Whamon's stomach, our heroes spotted the black gear jammed into his pink stomach wall and succeeded at taking it out. Whamon recovered from his senses and not only apologized for his rudeness but offered to carry them towards Server Continent as their ride.

What's more, with his assistance, they were able to locate the tags the children would need for their crests. Now it was on to Server!

Tai and Beth stood lookout at dawn while the others slept. Their feet firmly planted on top of Whamon's rubbery, enormous head—hundreds of feet above the water. For the past four days, Whamon took the group on a leisurely cruise across the vast ocean. Mainly everybody just kicked back and enjoyed the ride.

Now, however, the group was anxious to get to Server. Tai peered through his spyglass then cried out in delight as a gleaming white mass appeared on the horizon.

"It's Server," Whamon confirmed.

"We made it!" Beth cheered.

Tai strode over to his sleeping friends. "Rise and shine!" he hollered.

Beth crowed. "Land in sight! C'mon, we're going to be there in a few minutes!"

Through a conference held by all members (except Mimi, who was sleeping at the time) on where they should land on Server Continent, they had decided on a point at the coastline that was further west from the southeast peninsula. The coastline had been Matt's suggestion — it indented into an inward curve, which would better help them to keep an eye out for enemy attacks.

Whamon sailed into a long lagoon surrounded by jagged stone sea stacks. They arrived at a cliff that was about ten feet shorter than Whamon. Tai and Agumon immediately jumped ashore. The other kids, Digimon and guardians slid to the ground until only Mimi was left up on Whamon's head.

"Why do we have to get off here?" Mimi whined as she peered down the high slope of blubber. "Aren't there better places to land?!"

Joe cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone. "We all held a discussion and decided to land here! You probably didn't know about it because you were sleeping!"

"Don't decide on important things like that without me there!" Mimi cried then Whamon twitched, causing her to slip off and land on Izzy, much to the older girls' amusement.

"I've had it." Mimi complained as she sat up.

Beth walked right past them after bidding Whamon farewell. "Come on, you lovebirds, we didn't come all the way to Server just to look at it."

Whamon had instructed the group that if they continued walking they'd reach a forest with a Koromon village by midday.

For the next few hours, the caravan marched across a rocky desert that had very few shady trees. The sun beat down mercilessly as they trudged through the barren land. They hurried across the hot sands towards the green area. When they stepped into the shade of the thick vines overhead, the air felt much cooler.

Up ahead was a patch of dark green between two hills. They climbed up a gentle tree furred hill, when they reached the top a small village.

From there they had gone towards the Koromon village that Whamon had told them about, except there had been no Koromon in sight. Instead, the village was full of Pagumon who were the same Baby Levels. Small round grey creatures with ear-like appendages, orange crescent moon-shaped eyes with black irises and a mouth.

The group had gladly received the Pagumon's warm reception towards them (and to Kylie, Sirene's heir, which Theo had flaunted much to the former's discomfort), washing themselves clean of the salt that clung to their hair and the sweat of their bodies, diving into the feast that had been provided for them. With the extra nutrition, T.K.'s Poyomon became Tokomon, a happy reunion for them both.

* * *

However, late that night, while all the friends slept, the Pagumon snuck into the top tower room. They grabbed Tokomon, tied him up and whisked him outside into the dark woods before he could even whimper.

The little grey blobs paused in a moonlit clearing in the forest and begun mocking the little fellow and poking him with sticks.

Tokomon cried. "Why are you picking on me?"

"Because you digivolved!" a Pagumon replied, poking him with a stick.

"But why? I thought you were nice!" Tokomon sniffled.

"That was just pretend!"

"Yeah, you're pretty dumb falling for the trick. We're not like that!" another Pagumon responded giving him a pink eye.

"What do you think you're doing?" a voice asked.

Tokomon and the Pagumon glanced up to see three long floppy eared weasels standing on their hind legs. They had long, cat-like tails with three belts on the end. Large, black claws on its forelegs which are used as arms when standing upright.

"Oh, no! Gazimon!" The Pagumon paused.

The Gazimon who had spoken stepped forward. "What're you doing with that Tokomon?" he demanded.

The Pagumon bounced nervously. "He came to our village with some humans, that's why. And one of them's the heir—"

"It came with humans?" the Gazimon leader gaped.

"The heir? Here?" One of them interrupted, causing the other two to gasp in alarm.

Quickly the three mustelid creatures murmured amongst themselves in a huddle. Finally, they decided to let the Pagumon deal with Tokomon before they did anything else.

The Gazimon supervised while the Pagumon carried Tokomon farther along the forest trail until they reached a small river. A rippling waterfall cascaded into it. The Pagumon brought Tokomon over to the waterfall. Then the Pagumon ducked behind the waterfall, into a secret cave. Inside the dim cave were metal cages. The Pagumon opened one cage and tossed Tokomon in it, locking him up.

"You're not so special now, are you?" a Pagumon taunted Tokomon.

The little fellow struggled a bit then stopped short when he saw eyes in the darkness.

Meanwhile back outside, atop a high bluff on the other side of the waterfall, the three Gazimon were still discussing what to do.

"I'll go inform Lord Etemon about this. You take care of the rest!" said one of the Gazimon.

"Right!" answered the other two.

He raced away at top speed and quickly covered several miles the whole night. He hopped over a rocky plain, heading toward the far coast.

The remaining Gazimon turned to the Pagumon. "Hey, you'd better keep the Chosen children, the meddlers and which-ever one is the Heir busy!"

"Yeah!" The Pagumon agreed with malicious grins.

As the sun rose, the Gazimon reached an abandoned seaside town. Tonami Town was a port city, but there were no boats floating in its waters. Instead, there were a number of ships buried into the land with their bows pointing towards the sky. These vertical ships were called buildings in this town.

"Lord Etemon!" called the Gazimon, bounding between the ships. "Wait until you hear the news I have for you! Where are you, Etemon?"

The Gazimon screeched to a halt when he spotted a huge, bull-like Digimon dragging a cylindrical trailer.

"Oh, good," the Gazimon said. "Etemon!"

The beast slowed down, and the trailer creaked open. As its lid rose, flashes of disco lights and smoke poured out.

The inside was like a large karaoke room. A mirror ball hung from the ceiling, while the room was decorated with a sofa that lined three of the walls in a U-shape facing a thirty-inch television screen. There was a table in the empty space the sofa made, littered with drinks and snacks. And, of course, there was a microphone. Then the smoke cleared, revealing a tall figure holding a microphone. He resembled a giant monkey dressed in an orange jump-suit, and he posed like he was about to start a rock concert. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes. A little doll of Monzaemon hung from his hip.

Etemon smiled, revealing fangs. "Yes, the concert sensation of the Server Continent is back!" he announced in a cheesy voice. "All right, it's Etemon, the most powerful being ever! As in: me!"

The short Gazimon bowed. "Everyone hail Etemon, the true king!"

Etemon bopped the Gazimon with his fist. "You're too loud! It's too early in the morning for you to be shouting!"

The Gazimon's long, furry ears dropped apologetically. "But you're even noisier than I am…"

"Shut up, don't bother me!" Etemon snarled.

Unlike the average karaoke room, the trailer's walls were covered with an electric scoreboard. On it was displayed a map of Server Continent, with 26×26 vertical and horizontal lines running across that indicated latitude and longitude. A yellow dot was blinking from its position at the elongated tip of the peninsula on the southeast part of the continent, indicating the location of this trailer. There were also computers that acted as communications equipment.

A bright blue dot glowed on the ocean, near Server's coast.

"According to my calculations, the Chosen Children and Guardians should be landing here soon," Etemon explained, pointing to the blue dot. "I'm going to ambush them once they hit the beach and crush them all then and there. It's a perfect plan, I'm a genius!" He posed again in a dorky rock star stance. "But if you make anymore loud noises, you'll scare them off!"

"They won't be there." The Gazimon interrupted.

"Eh?"

"The Chosen Children and only five of the guardians arrived yesterday then landed someplace else. And word's out that Sirene's heir is one of them. They're all in the Pagumon village right now."

"Wh-What?! How did that happen?!" He was clearly shocked. Apparently being wrong was a huge blemish on his ego. "Why? Why?!"

"That's not our latest transmission."

Etemon slammed down his fists down on his control panel. The flashing blue dot then changed positions to where the Pagumon village was. "You're right! Now my plan is ruined! But I'll never forgive them for this. Be sure to remember! Arise, my Dark Network!"

The rhino-like Digimon detached from his yoke and wandered off. Then sinister wires snaked out of the cylindrical trailer. The wires slinked through the abandoned town, slithering across the landscape beyond.

"Let's go!" Etemon howled. The trailer rumbled into motion. It cruised along the Dark Network's wires like trolley tracks—heading across the hills toward the Pagumon village.

"Won't you be gathering your subordinates?" The Gazimon asked his boss.

Etemon's sunglasses flashed balefully. "I'll be more than enough for the Chosen Children and those five guardians on my own."

* * *

Just when the group was earnestly thinking about having an uneventful morning, T.K. had cried out, "Tokomon is gone!"

So the group had spent a great part of the day looking for the missing digimon.

"Tokomon! Tokomon! Tokomon!" T.K. wandered between the huts searching for his dear little friend.

Izzy had drawn a map in the dirt with a stick, he crossed off the places that had already been searched. Tai stood atop the tall tower, scanning the surrounding area with his spyglass. On the ground, the guardians and other children met up in front of the tower door to compare their search efforts.

"Well, he's not in the south part of the village," Sora reported.

"Not over to the west, either!" Matt added.

"I thought I could finally take a break. I wish we didn't have to go through all this trouble." Mimi sighed.

"And just who do you think gave us the most trouble all this time?" Gomamon quipped with a wink.

"Is it Joe?"

Joe almost fell over and glared at her. "No, he's talking about you!"

Mimi looked affronted. "What?!"

Beth and Theo burst out laughing.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Beth chuckled.

The gaggle of Pagumon arrived, giggling. "He wasn't here! He wasn't here!" they chirped. "He wasn't near the waterfall."

"I see." Izzy replied. He drew an X over the waterfall on his dirt map

T.K. looked downcast. "Tokomon…"

Meanwhile, Agumon searched for Tokomon deep in the woods. "Hey, Tokomon!"

He took a long sniff of the air with his lizard's snout, and his eyes widened. Following the nostalgic scent to the pool's edge then hurried into the secret cave behind the waterfall.

"Agumon!" Tokomon shouted in greeting.

Agumon gasped as he saw Tokomon locked up in the cage. Then he noticed the dozens of other cages. Each had a group of cuddly pale pink blobs trapped in it.

"Koromon!" Agumon exclaimed. "Why are you all locked up in here?

"The Pagumon locked us in these cages!" one Koromon chirped.

"Two or three days earlier, the Pagumon came here and took over our homes!" another added.

Agumon nodded. "Then that means those guys are…"

"Bad guys who are big fat liars!" Tokomon shouted. "You have to let everyone know!"

"Right!" Agumon said. He yanked on the cage bars. "I'll get you out of here quick!"

"Oh, you're not allowed to do that."

Agumon whirled around and saw two Gazimon scowling at him.

"You're Gazimon!" Agumon cried.

"That's because we'll be offering the Chosen Children and the heir right to King Etemon!" the Gazimon leader replied.

"Etemon?"

"We'll get rid of you right here!"

The two weaselly bullies leaped at Agumon, and knocked him to the floor of the cave. Then they got him while he was down. Agumon struggled to get up. One of his eyes was swollen badly. He climbed to his feet and glared at them.

"Paralyze Breath!" the Gazimon hollered together.

Their eyes glowed with energy. Sizzling beams shot out, combining in the air to form a brilliant ball of power. The ball slammed into Agumon, and he jittered with electricity. Agumon swayed once. Then he fell onto his face.

"You can do it, Agumon!" Tokomon protested.

Agumon raised his head weakly. "Tai!" he shouted. "Please come and help me digivolve—!"

"It's no use!' the Gazimon sneered. No one can here you from outside!"

The sound of tumbling water blocked out all other noises.

"If only it weren't for this waterfall!" Agumon moaned. Then he perked up slightly. "That's it!" Agumon lifted himself up on his arms and inhaled deeply.

"Baby flame!" he hollered, spitting out a compact ball of flame. The Gazimon hopped out of the way. The blast of fire sizzled into the curtain of rippling water. A section of the waterfall boiled briefly.

* * *

Outside the cave, a puff of steam rose out.

Back in the village, Izzy said, "Tokomon is still a baby, so he shouldn't have been able to go that far."

Tai searched the forest with his spyglass from the top of the village tower. "Where is Agumon searching?" He suddenly spotted a steam signal billowing over the trees. "What's that?"

"What is it, Tai?" Kylie asked.

"Smoke by the river!" Tai shouted back.

T.K. let out a big cheer. "It's Tokomon!"

The Pagumon swarmed around the group's feet nervously.

"No, really, it's nothing!" one chirped. "We already looked by the waterfall and didn't see a thing!"

"Well…" Izzy suggested, rubbing his chin, "But it's possible he arrived there after you finished searching!"

Tai hurried down the tower stairs and rushed out the front door. "I'll check it out!" he declared.

Now the Pagumon squealed. "You can't!"

"Why are you all so anxious?" Kylie questioned.

A nearby scream from Mimi grabbed everyone's attention. "Augh!" she cried. "What is this thing?"

Mimi sat on a bench with a small black fuzzball on her lap. Palmon stood nearby, watching warily.

Tentomon buzzed over for a better look. "It's a Botamon!" he announced.

"Aren't the Botamon are the small fuzzy cuties that digivolve into Koromon?" Dana asked, as she picked up the little critter into her arms.

"How can a Botamon be here?" Palmon remarked.

"Then this place really is…" Tai looked down at the Pagumon suspiciously.

Zaira pursed her lip and folded her arms crossly. "So everything about the Pagumon being bullying tricksters weren't so farfetched after all…"

_"Welcome!"_ The Pagumon began to sing nervously _"This is NOT the village of the Pagumon!"_

"They're running away." Sora noted blankly.

"We've been tricked!" Tai scowled and without another word, he ran off in direction of the waterfall.

The others arrived in time to see Greymon roar at the two Gazimon, and they shrank back in fear. Then the Champion reached up and shifted a few boulders on top of the waterfall. The sheet of cascading liquid parted like a curtain, opening the cave to the outside.

"It's payback time!" Greymon thundered at the Gazimon. "Mega Flame!"

A gigantic fireball blazed out of the digivolved Digimon's mouth. It slammed into the Gazimon and blasted them backward into the river. The two weasels coughed and spluttered as the strong river rapids swept them downstream.

"Greymon did it!" Tai cheered.

T.K. hurried into the cave and yanked open Tokomon's cage then picked him up. "Thank goodness you're safe!"

Tokomon nuzzled T.K.'s cheek. "I'm sorry for worrying you, T.K.!"

"Did those mean Pagumon hurt you?" Dana asked, gently stroking Tokomon's head.

"I'm okay now." Tokomon nodded brightly to her.

While the rest helped the others free the Koromon. "The Pagumon have run away. It's all right now!" Sora reassured them.

Theo chimed in. "It's true, we saw them leave!"

"Thank you!" the Koromon squeaked as they hopped out of the tight cages. "You saved us!"

"Yoohoo!" a rumbling voice boomed from outside the cave.

Confused, the whole group turned to look. They saw a giant holographic image of a fanged monkey looking down at them over a wall of trees. He was twice as tall as Greymon. His sunglasses glinted in the sunlight, and his microphone squawked from feedback.

"All you Guardians and Chosen Children, can you hear me?" the dorky monkey bellowed.

While the children eyed him warily, the five guardians merely watched with utmost disdain.

Beth's lip curled, she hated the jerk already. "Who the heck is that loser?"

"It's Etemon!" the Koromon gasped in fear, drawing each other close and trembling as fear contorted their faces.

"He's a Perfect Level," one of the Koromon answered.

Tentomon answered the question this time. "Perfect Level is the level that an Adult evolves into. The Adult Level is, for instance, when I'm Kabuterimon and when Gabumon becomes Garurumon."

Etemon twanged his guitar. "You cut it close, messing up my big beautiful plan. Nobody has ever made me that angry before. And so now, as a treat, I'm going to destroy the whole village!"

"Destroy the whole village?" Tai repeated.

"From where he is?" Zaira scoffed, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Izzy agreed. "That's right. It's impossible, the village is too big."

The entire village shook. Cracks jagged across the ground between the huts. The dark cracks shimmered with electricity, turned black, and then slowly levitated into the air.

Etemon yowled with howls of laughter. Red streaks of power sizzled across the net, zapping scarlet bolts down at the little huts. Each building that was touched by the grid disintegrated instantly. The tall tower was the first to get fried. Sparks roared through them with an ominous electric buzzing sound. Apparently the lines connecting the together had a high-tension current running through them. Its destructive power matched that of a natural volcanic eruption or tsunami, and it reduced the Koromon village to ash in the blink of an eye. The Koromon screamed in terror at the ensuing destruction.

The group saw what was happening from behind the waterfall, but the suddenness of the overwhelming catastrophe left them standing there in a daze. Their brains couldn't process at first what had just happened.

"Everyone, digivolve - er, and transform, now!" Sora ordered.

In a blazing whirlwind of intense digital energy, Gabumon transformed into what looked like a blue zebra-striped giant wolf.

"Let's roll, girls!" Beth said to the guardians.

Five distinct glowing colors changed them into their fairy mode.

Etemon didn't look worried at all. "I won't let you do that!" He then strummed his ill-tuned guitar. "Destructive Concert!" In response to Etemon's awful singing accompanied by rock music – which sounded a lot more like pained wailing, the network lines crackled with power. The grid spread for miles in every direction. As the network flashed, Garurumon and Greymon screamed. The guardians, winced, gritting their teeth and covering their ears.

The combination of the energy and terrible singing forced them to painfully shrink back to their rookie forms and the girls to change back into civilian mode against their wills.

"Dark Network, yeah!" Etemon cheered. He raised his guitar above his head and awkwardly danced around.

"What happened to you?" Tai gaped at the digimon and the girls.

"We lost our energy!"

"That destructive concert drains you of energy to fight!" Tentomon explained.

Beth snarled. "Are you kidding me?!"

Theo yelled. "Yeah, your singing rules – I mean, sucks!"

Now they knew why Gennai explained the need for the crests and the new forms for them.

Etemon squawked his guitar, and a network zap hit the mouth of the cave. The boulders on top of the waterfall crumbled, tumbling toward the friends. The group and the Digimon rushed to follow the frightened Koromon farther inside with Dana still holding the Botamon. The avalanche just missed burying them under heavy stones. But the rocks blocked off the exit to the lake.

The group raced after the Koromon through long, dark tunnels with cut stone walls then to a dead end, where they stopped. Oddly, the wall of the dead end had a circular, eight-pointed sun carved onto it.

"What's this?" Tai asked.

The Koromon closest to Tai hopped up and down. "There's a legend that if anything were to happen to our village, we were to escape from here!"

Suddenly, the tag began to glow on the chains around Tai's neck. The walls of the stone room flashed orange. They grew brighter by the second.

The sun symbol flashed on the dead end next to Tai, and that wall remained glowing after the side walls faded back to stone. A rectangle of brilliant light pulled free from the dead end and warped into a thin sheet of shining orange energy. Then it shrank to the size of a credit card. Tai gasped in amazement as the card glided through the air and slid into a slot on his tag. It settled, dangling around Tai's neck, sunburst side up.

"This is… a Crest!" Tai exclaimed.

Everybody murmured in awe.

"Awesome, this is the first step to fighting back!" Beth grinned.

Sora pointed to the dead end wall, which was still glowing brightly. As it got brighter, the wall became more and more transparent, until it vanished entirely. Through the open space, the group could see a lush, peaceful forest with a blue sky above it. There was no sign of Etemon—or any of his nasty hench-Digimon.

"Th-This is…" Joe asked as he stared at the mountains covered with evergreen trees in the distance.

A Koromon answered Joe. "We're inside the mountains that are far, far away from where our village is."

Joe cheered. "Then we're saved!"

Mimi beamed happily at the view. "Thank goodness."

"Let's lay low for while," Kylie said. "If Etemon doesn't find us, he might think we've died and leave."

Tai held his tag and studied the new crest. "A Crest… I finally have one! As long as I have this, Etemon isn't a threat at all!"

Unseen by any of the friends, something moved in the grass a few feet away. A dark Network wire raised up about two inches, and a blip of crimson information zipped along it.

* * *

Back in Etemon's trailer, the information reached one of his servants through the wire.

"Lord Etemon, the Chosen Children and the meddlers…!" A Gazimon called out.

"They should be flying about in broken pieces by my musical techniques." Etemon gloated

"They have been abruptly transported elsewhere."

"What?!" Rising up from his seat, Etemon jumped over the table to peer into the monitor behind Gazimon. "You're right… Didn't expect to see them over there. They're resourceful, I'll give them that. I'll have to stay on my guard around both those children and their nosy Guardian tag-alongs. But that's what makes it worth killing them." He said with a fiendish chuckle.

He'd be able to track down those little troublesome pests in no time at all.

**_To be continued…_**


	9. Dark evolutions and tricks

The rising and falling of sand dunes could be seen stretching endlessly into the distance. The arid land greedily soaked up light from the sun, giving off a heat haze. They felt like the insides of their shoes could melt off. Their dripping sweat left soak marks on the backs of their clothes, and sand grains in the wind flew into the corners of their eyes, tearing them up.

After parting with the Koromon at the oasis (the Koromon hoped to build their new village there), the group continued on west. According to a map that Gennai had sent them, if they kept going in a straight line west, they should be able to come upon a large lake called Temp Lake. They didn't necessarily have anything to do at that lake, but considering that Etemon was after them, staying in the barren desert with no cover or hiding places was dangerous.

Everyone's feeling discouraged, Tai thought. I have to cheer them up somehow. And proudly, he raised the Crest that he had gotten at Koromon Village for everyone to see.

But the other children only stared at it darkly. Some eyes were filled half with doubt about whether or not that Crest would help them beat Etemon, others reflected envy and jealousy that Tai was the only one who had it, while even more were filled with discouragement upon knowing that without a Crest of their own they were only pulling everyone else down…

He grinned widely at his partner.

Agumon looked at them in bewilderment, but Tai thought that everyone understood and looked satisfied. "But still, that energy thing… since he's gonna be evolving to Perfect, he's gotta have even more energy than before, right?"

A sly grin spread across his face. "Do your best to eat! Everyone gave you all of their food because they're looking forward to you evolving! Right, guys?" Tai said loudly, looking for the others' agreement.

Tai kept patting Agumon on the back to help make the food go down faster.

"He's gonna give him indigestion that way…" Dana sighed.

* * *

"You chosen children and Guardians better watch out. I'll find you and when I do, you'll wish you never crossed Etemon!" Etemon jeered happily. "I'll get'cha!

"Boss, Boss!" A Gazimon waves his paw at Etemon.

"What in the Sam Hill!?" Etemon growled. "I've told you NEVER to interrupt one of my villainous monologues! NEVER..."

"Except!" The Gazimon waves its paw frantically to an odd looking bone shaped communicator. "For HER!"

Etemon gasped dramatically, and snatched the cell-bone out of his minion's hands.

"Give me that!" Etemon puts on a bright smile. "My Mad Artist Mama, how's it going beautiful?" He turned on the charm, knowing he owed everything to the person on the other end, and indeed.

Elsewhere someone was looking at the loud-mouthed monkey through Mercurymon's round mirror face, his pink lips present on the image of Etemon.

The woman remains unseen for the moment, but her long arm and hand were seen, but this was her left hand and on her pointer finger was a silver finger casing with a purple crystal on it, tapping on a stone throne.

"I am fine. Matters are progressing nicely," the woman spoke. "But Devimon has failed us, Etemon. The Chosen children and Sirene's heir SURVIVE!"

Etemon shivered, but struck a flexing pose as he spoke into the communicator.

"Well, don't you worry, Darling Damsel of Disaster," Etemon brags. "I've found those kids, and will destroy them without hesitation, and their crests!"

"I know you will, or suffer in eternal agony," The lady warns, chuckling as Mercurymon mouth twists in disdain at Etemon.

But she seems agitated as she taps her talon faster on the stone of her thrones armrest. "But their leader has FOUND his crest of courage, you must break him first. If he discovers how to use it to evolve his Partner, the others will know and WE CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!"

Etemon sweats nervously at her mentioning something he didn't think she'd know about, and how her voice raising near the end.

"Break the leader Tai's spirit, or his legs. His crest anything you can think of, Etemon. But I want those children and those meddling guardians finished!" The lady orders.

Etemon salutes, believing rightfully that she could see him.

"You can count on me, Mad Artist!" Etemon proclaims.

"Well, that remains to be seen, but you're all I've got." The woman said and raised her hand to make a slicing motion. The image of Etemon disappeared, revealing the reflection of a shadowed woman, who's pink, cat slit eyes flowed in the dark.

"The mon is a lumbering buffoon, My Lady." Mercurymon proclaims.

"Perhaps. But he is extremely powerful and loyal," The Mad Artist states. "And with the others busy, he's all I got to send in those miserable children."

"And the heir…" Mercurymon said softly.

"Yeeeees..." The Mad Artist hissed. "But we must have those children and guardians taken care of first, I have something very special in mind for Sirene's precious daughter."

* * *

In the meantime, Joe's tag had begun glow a bright silver. Tai had looked around using his spyglass spotting what looked to be something built in stone.

Joe had been moving the tag around and noticed it glowed when moved in that direction in particular, so he attempted to run towards it. "That means the crest is close!"

In his rush, he tripped over something. He got up, "What was that?"

Gomamon hopped over and touched the cable inquisitively, "What's a cable doing in this place?"

None of them knew how much danger it represented.

* * *

"STOP!"

Immediately, the monochromon pulling Etemon's trailer slid to a halt in the desert.

"What is the matter, Lord Etemon?" asked a Gazimon.

The trailer opened revealing Etemon seated at the control panel, chuckling deviously. "Something got caught in the Dark network! Area L-7… let's see… where was that? 7 boxes down L, and… Found it!"

"Where is it?"

"It's near the Coliseum! Remember? The place where I hold a yearly concert! How'd they get to such a far off place…"

"Eh, it's pretty far, isn't it?" asked one of the Gazimon.

"Yup. But I have a big surprise set up there!"

In effect, in said area, a lone Gazimon wearing sunglasses was relaxing on a lawn chair under the shade of a beach umbrella. A cellphone began to ring, he picked up to answer. "This is the L-7 area."

"It's me."

"H-Hello, sir!" The Gazimon quickly jumped to its feet attentively at the sound of his boss' voice.

"Some guests will be arriving there soon, so prepare a welcome party."

"W-Welcome party? You don't mean that thing…?"

"Exactly."

"U-Understood, Lord Etemon!" Once his boss hung up, the Gazimon hurried to the coliseum at the same time as the group.

At first, it looked like a coliseum from Roman times except for two key differences: Up on side was a giant screen much like those during sport events and instead of a quadriga, there was a soccer field complete with two goal nets.

Joe was still searching for where the crest may be while Sora found a soccer ball and tossed it around to the others. However Tai kicked it away and rebuked the others for trying to play a game at a time like this.

"Actually we got time, Joe still hasn't found it and neither has the bad guy, I'd say we're in a pretty good spot." Theo remarked.

"Any sign of it?" Zaira called out to Joe.

Joe was looking at his crest intently, "It must be close…"

Suddenly, the sound of an organ rang out in the air – the kind played in baseball games. It was coming from the screen, on it were two hands clapping and a horribly familiar voice. "I finally found you all."

All five present guardians face-palmed in vexation.

Mimi was the first one to take off running in fear, closely followed by the other children towards the goal Joe was at. The older girls only followed to keep them safe only for the whole goal post to close around them like a cage, leaving Agumon the only one outside.

"Goal! I've caught you!" Etemon crowed.

"It was a trap!" Tai noted.

"What a dope, does he think he can keep us in here with just this?" Tentomon commented and attempted to fly out.

But he was electrocuted and fell backwards onto the group.

"Oh, you'll injure yourself if you do that!" Etemon bragged. "After all, that net has electricity running through its wires! The truth is, I'd love to be there face-to-face, but unfortunately, I'm in a faraway place right now. Superstars have busy schedules, you know! Good to know, you and the Heir came here so I didn't have to waste time looking for you. That coliseum is where I hold my yearly concert, with the seats always packed, of course!

"Ha!" Beth scoffed. "With him singing? As if!"

Etemon continued. "But don't worry! There's a special guest who'll be taking my place! Who do you think it is? It's a Digimon you know very well."

"And we're supposed to guess?!" Zaira sneered.

The seat platform directly underneath the aurora vision screen split in the middle, sliding apart with a loud grinding of gears. And then, from the darkness that came out of that wide mouth was, to everyone's surprise, a Greymon.  
Agumon Digivolves into his own Greymon to fight him. Unfortunately, Tai's Greymon is losing. Everyone knows that he can only win if he Digivolves again. The two Greymon wrestled with each other on the field. The enemy Greymon could be easily told apart by the black cables it was dragging around. The cables were connected back to the dark hole that he had stepped out of from the audience seats, and it was probably through them that someone was controlling him, either directly or through remote control.

"Greymon! You've gotta evolve!" Tai cried out, raising his Crest high so that his Greymon could see it. "If you evolve to Perfect Level, you'll be able to win! Evolve!"

"It's impossible, Tai!"

But Tai didn't even bother to acknowledge the words from the others.

The others were trying to find alternate ways to get out of the electrified goalpost. They moved side one of the stone bricks only to find another one in the way, except this one had a symbol on it. It looked like an outlined cross with four rays of light coming from behind it. Joe's tag glowed a brighter silver as he placed it down, there was a flash of light and the group tumbled downwards into an underground tunnel, allowing them to escape.

Getting a little to close to the battling Greymon, Tai clenched his Crest tightly. Still, the Crest showed no change. Lowering his head and upper portion of his body, the enemy Greymon charged with the intent to hit him with the horn on his nose.

Tai jumped down from the audience seats onto the field and ran at full speed towards the Greymon.

The group looked on, baffled at what Tai was starting up now, but Izzy recognized at once what he was trying to do. He had even said it himself, hadn't he? The two conditions for making their partners evolve. The first was that a large amount of energy was needed. The second was when their partner was in terrible danger.

As he watched the monitor screen within his large trailer, Etemon controlled his own Greymon with a remote control.  
Rather than as if he was playing a video game, he looked more like he was choosing a song for karaoke. His commands were a string of numbers that he now sent, ordering his Greymon to change his target from the other Greymon to Tai.

Feeling the earth trembling up his legs as the enemy Greymon came charging towards him, Tai froze. All of his instincts were screaming at him to run, but Tai stubbornly pushed them down. One of them was the feeling of making Greymon evolve to Perfect Level. Tai squeezed his eyes shut. He was prepared for the possibility that he might die.

Unlike the usual white light they had always seen with evolutions, Greymon glowed like a cheap neon light. And then, when that light pulled back, there stood — Having lost his regal shape, the glossy skin that spoke of dignity, and even the eyeballs that showed his pity for the weak, there stood a violent-looking carnivorous dinosaur Digimon changed into a bare skeleton.

SkullGreymon bellowed.

Tai, whose eyes had been shut, opened them upon hearing that voice.

With the blue sky hazy with yellow sand behind him, SkullGreymon moved around so that the scrape of his bones gave an almost belligerent sound as he tested the performance of his newly gained body.

SkullGreymon sprang upon his escaping prey, leaning forward to the fullest extent his position would allow to crush him with the palm of one hand.

The enemy Greymon's bones, flesh, and final cries of agony merged into a bloody meatball pulp. Both the enemy Greymon's remains and the aurora vision screen disintegrated within the flash.

"G–Greymon?" Tai blinked rapidly, raising an uncertain voice to SkullGreymon. He didn't know whether or not his voice reached him, but SkullGreymon looked down at the boy with his hollow eyes.

Since Greymon's form disappeared and SkullGreymon appeared in his place that would be the logical conclusion. But as he looked at SkullGreymon, Tai felt that he couldn't accept this form. He just couldn't. He hadn't felt this way before when Koromon had evolved into Agumon and Agumon into Greymon. It was neither confirmation nor a denial.  
And if Beth and the other guardians didn't know any better, they'd have said that this digievolution was the result of dark forces tampering with the digievolution.

Raising his head like a snake and slowly swiveling it around, SkullGreymon looked to see if there were any new enemies he could be entertained with. Garurumon had jumped down to save Tai, but upon the unexpected arrival of SkullGreymon, he had stood back to watch how the situation would turn out along with the five guardians, Birdramon and Kabuterimon in the skies.

SkullGreymon chased after Garurumon, his footfalls causing the earth to shake.

Unfortunately, their assumption was accurate and SkullGreymon's body didn't even flinch when their attacks hit him. Instead, he made a lazy swipe at Birdramon and Kabuterimon with the back of his hand, from which they crashed into the walls and the ground, returning back to their Child Levels. The guardians had scattered out of the way like frightened birds, their spells also had no effect on him.

SkullGreymon let out an unhappy growl and looked around, searching for his lost prey.

Boom! The entire southern part of the coliseum disintegrated instantly.

Rubble that had resulted from the explosion clattered around him as Gabumon rose from within it, his wounded body shaking as he tried to sit up. His wounds were of some concern, but it was a miracle that he had barely escaped from dying in that explosion.

Escaping through the space in the wall that he had broken down, SkullGreymon jumped out of the coliseum. The group was still inside the coliseum, but from their pathetic trembling, SkullGreymon could see that they were not his enemies and lost interest in them.

It sounded like a pleased cry of victory. Rather than the triumph of having brought down his kill, it was more like the joy of being able to freely unleash all of his savagery. SkullGreymon ran through the desert at an immense speed, raising up a cloud of dust behind him. All they could do was watch SkullGreymon rampage from a distance…

But it caused him to eat up so much energy that he degenerated all the way down to Koromon. It was possible that he'd run out of so much energy that he didn't even have enough to stay in his Agumon form.

"I'm sorry, Tai…" Koromon apologized disheartedly, his eyes downcast.

"It was all my fault. I'm sorry," Tai apologized, first to Koromon and then to everyone else. "I really am sorry."

If they had blamed him, if they had shunned him and made him go on his knees and beg for their forgiveness, he might have been able to pour out his feelings of regret along with his tears. But because he was unable to do that now, those feelings piled on top of each other like a poison inside his body and slowly ate away at the inside of Tai's heart. And like a disease, Tai's depressing reserve spread to the other children, until all of them felt as if their hearts were filled with dark clouds and a downpour of rain where summer would never arrive.

* * *

So it was up to the guardian to guide and encourage the children, so they do not lose sight of what they need.

However, just as the villains had an equally evil force giving orders, the group had someone else looking after the children's welfare and best interests, as she does for the Guardians.

This lady knew that they would need an extra helping hand in magic but could not manifest herself entirely in the Digiworld, so she spoke to the only one who could relay an uplifting message.

"I need you to look out for those girls too, Gennai. I will do what I can from my end, and send help if possible, but you must watch out for them as much as the Chosen children."

The enigmatic sorceress passed in front of her full length, gold framed mirror, inside of which was Gennai in question.

"I'll do what I can, Your Dark Majesty. But unlike you, I'm no supreme wizard." Gennai said.

"I know, I just wish the cosmic laws didn't keep me out of there," Vanessa pursed her lips. "But I appreciate whatever you can do."

Now, the kids began to think that the crest were too much trouble despite the girl's encouragements.

* * *

The kids continue to walk through the hot desert with almost nothing else in sight but sand suns and cactuses. Though Tai is feeling guilty because of his mistake with Agumon, Mimi tries to make him feel better. After Palmon fantasizes about shading everyone from the sunlight, the group sees a large cactus that turns out to be nothing more than a mirage.

"Guardians, Chosen Children!" A voice called out, and as they looked around for the source they found a holographic projector, revealing Gennai's holographic image.

"Gennai!"

"Hey, Gramps! I got the Tag and Crest just like you said, put them together and fought the bad guy, but he didn't evolve at all! What's more, poor Agumon degenerated into Koromon!" Tai snapped and got a smack in the arm from a disapproving Kylie.

"I don't want the Crest!" Mimi whined.

Tai turned to Kylie indignantly. "What was that for?!"

By then, Beth was getting fed up with their attitude. "Shut it, all of you!"

Kylie then said, "It's one thing not to understand how the next digievolution step works, but when you start verbally attacking the only other individual who can guide us through this journey…"

Theo interrupted. "Well what I wanna know, when does this next fairy form take effect?!"

"All of you, calm down." Gennai said unfazed by the irritated disposition of the group. "The Crests will become yours someday, whether you like it or not. Both the Tag and Crest will naturally light each other up."

"No way." Mimi griped.

"Suck it up, wuss!" Beth hissed at her.

Gennai continued, "Let me explain why Agumon degenerated into Koromon. Even with both the Tag and Crest on you, unless you raise your Digimon correctly…"

"Raise them correctly?" Tai interrupted.

"Yes. Unless you give them good upbringing, they won't evolve the right way."

"How do we raise them the right way, then?"

"When thinking about giving appropriate care…"

"Gennai!" The image died and we were left alone once again.

"That old geezer!" Tai scoffed. "Everything he says is confusing!"

"Not everything, he said raise them right." Zaira said rather sternly. "And last time I checked: giving your partner indigestion or running headfirst into danger deliberately pressuring him to digivolve into something unpredictable, doesn't fit into 'raising right'."

Matt put his hands on his hips. "Well, who put you in charge?"

"He mentioned raising us right." Piyomon turned to Gabumon.

"Are we being brought up the right way, though?"

"Gabumon! Wait a second!" Matt was taken aback.

"I'm… not confident I can do it." Izzy looked down in the mouth.

"Wait, wait, Izzy. What do you think you're saying?"

"What about me?" Gomamon asked Joe.

"I don't think myself capable. I don't have a shred of confidence. Self-confidence at zero percent."

"Oh, come on!" Dana griped, "It's no different than looking after a family member or a beloved pet you can actually speak to."

"We're mortals!" Sora reminded her curtly, "We're not one with nature or any other magical creatures like you are!"

Skeptically, Theo rolled her eyes, "Could've fooled me when your own digimon attached themselves to you the first time you met."

They were interrupted by the sound of a ship's horn, where's it coming from? They saw that it was a luxury cruise ship headed right towards them.

"Is that a mirage too?" T.K. asked.

"No it's not!" shouted Matt.

Quickly, the group ran to the right, out of the way. Then the ship stopped nearby, then two familiar eye stalks peered at them from the side of the ship. It was a Numemon in a sailor's outfit.

Koromon groaned audibly, he didn't look too good.

"Numemon! Please, let us rest on your ship!" Tai pleaded.

However the Numemon just looked warily at him. Then Mimi, Theo and Dana stepped up.

"Don't worry, we'll convince him." offered Mimi confidently. "Numemon! We're very tired! Could you let us rest ourselves for a while on this luxurious ship? Pl-ea-se."

"It would be a BIG help." Theo said, flipping her dark hair and smiling brightly.

"Pretty please?" Dana requested, batting her eyelashes to make herself look cute, "We won't be any bother."

The girls were turning up the charm and it worked. The Numemon just took a good look at them, had hearts in his eyes and let down the draw ramp. Naturally the group didn't waste any time running aboard.

Inside, the ship was well kept, just like a five star hotel: pools, dining rooms, great banquets, showers, and the works. So the group split up to explore Joe and Tai were resting in the pool.

Matt, T.K., Dana, Kylie and Izzy were eating the decadent amount of food laid on the long dining table. While, Theo, Sora, Beth and Mimi hit the showers.

Unbeknownst to the two boys resting in the pool, someone was watching. At first glance, it appeared to be a human captain but that was not the case at all.

"Chosen Children…Guardians… Your fates…" He crouched forwards before the false skin burst, revealing a large bird covered in creamish white feathers with its wings purple at the ends while its tail feathers are purple at the base and red at the tip. The upper mandible of its mouth is covered in rhinotheca with teeth while the lower mandible covered in feathers with three protruding teeth at the tip. It has red eyes with slit pupils like a reptile and the crest of black feathers. Its feet each have four talons and a single dewclaw.

"…are in the hands of Cockatrimon!" He squawked.

He walked over to the bridge and went up to a computer screen. "I'd better report this to Lord Etemon and ask him what I should do with them."

* * *

Now the ship had one of the cables from the Dark Network attached to it. But the attack from Skullgreymon had caused nothing but trouble for Etemon and his infamous network. And as a result, he was unable to communicate with his underlings nor track down the group.

"You useless twerps! Hurry up and fix my network!" He yelled at the three frantic Gazimon. "Who do you think I am? I am the King of Digimon, the powerful Etemon! Got a problem with that?"

The three Gazimon stopped briefly to bow down submissively. "None at all!"

Abruptly the lights the lights shining on him as he performed just as if he were on stage.

"YEAH! Who's the strongest in the world? That's me! Yeah! I'm the coolest cat there is, and if you don't watch out I'm gonna getcha 'til you scream and shout, 'cause I'm the hippest Digimon in town! Yeah!" He sang.

Behind him, the three Gazimon had gotten carried away with the music, even dancing to it, only for Etemon to hit them over their heads.

"So, who gave you permission to dance?! Don't just sit there crouching and holding your heads!"

Quickly, the Gazimon continue to fix the network.

* * *

Back win the ship, there was only static going on Cockatorimon's screen.

"That's odd. I can't contact Lord Etemon. No other choice. I'll just get rid of them bawk." He then spoke through the speaker port to the Numemon dressed in sailor's suits that were below deck. "You Numemon, I'll raise your pay rate up to a pretty little sum for anyone who captures the Chosen Children, the guardians or Sirene's heir!"

It was enough incentive for the Numemon to start rounding up the group. Naturally the digimon tried to fight back, but their digimon were turned to stone, thus only Sora, Mimi, Beth and Theo were left to be captured.

But when he and the Numemon searched the room and showers, they'd noticed that they girls have escaped out the window.

Fortunately, thanks to Biyomon's exceptional sense of hearing, the girls were able to escape. It was awkward seeing as the girls were in nothing but a towel and the older ones wearing their undergarments.

They didn't see the others but unfortunately as they were fleeing, Cockatorimon suddenly appeared before them right on the side deck. "Here you are!"

"Cockatrimon!" Palmon and Piyomon cried out.

"Is he one of Etemon's minions?" Sora wondered.

"I think so!" Piyomon replied.

Then the girls noticed the giant chicken was holding something in his

"Those are Tai and Joe's Crests!" Mimi gasped.

"What did you do to our friends, you big chicken?!" Beth snarled, rather aggressively.

"I've captured the other nine and put them out to fry in the sun! Keep them out there for a while, and I'll have them dried and crunchy!"

"That's terrible!"

"What about their Digimon?" Piyomon inquired.

"I've turned them into stones with my power. I can use them to boil some yummy soup. But don't worry, you'll be joining them."

"You're unforgivable!" Piyomon leapt up. "Magical Spiral!"

"Poison Ivy!"

Cockatrimon jumped to avoid the attacks. "Petrifier!"

The girls fled before said attack could hit any of them. They kept running until they reached the bow of the ship. It was a dead end and too high for them to jump to safety. Except the Chicken had failed to notice two ever crucial little details: Sora and Mimi still had their digivices, whilst Beth and Theo can still transform.

Birdramon's meteor wing and Beth's energy bolts made Cockatorimon back up and lose his grip on the two crests he's taken.

Next it was Togemon and Theo's turn to fight, the combined fighting attacks were enough to send Cockatorimon flying right into the frontal smokestack. It shot off fire and smoke two seconds later.

Quickly the girls ran back to the room to get their clothes then ran into the others. It seemed that when Cockatorimon was dealt with, the petrifying effect had completely worn off. At the same time the Numemon had escaped the ship in quite a hurry.

Izzy theorized. "That must mean it's dangerous to stay on this ship."

"Then we better hurry up and get off here!" Sora suggested.

Everyone agreed and departed from the ship as soon as possible but of course after a few minutes of walking they were already tired of having to go through the desert.

They heard the ship's horn once again then turned around to see the shiop coming after them! Naturally the group fled in fright and uop ahead they saw something,

"A giant cactus?" Palmon piped up.

"Is it another mirage?!" wondered Dana.

Tai cheered. "No, it has a shadow!"

Quickly, they all ran behind the cactus to take cover. Then what happened next defied the laws of physics entirely. The pursuing ship crashed headlong into the cactus but the cactus stood straight up again causes the ship to be catapulted into the distance. But since the ship was connected to certain black wire that started to rip before exploding, vaporizing the whole ship and Cockatrimon along with it.

"It… wasn't a mirage!" Mimi muttered about the cactus.

"Boy that was lucky!" Dana grinned.

Then as the sun started to set, something glowed at the top of the cactus. A pink flower began to sprout.

"Oh, now that's a pretty sight." Beth remarked in awe.

The flower bloomed open to reveal a large flat stone with a symbol on it, a raindrop with two circles inside of it.

"What is that?" Mimi asked.

"Another crest!" Zaira stated in surprise.

Then to Mimi's chagrin, her own tag floated out glowing a light green. The stone slab began to glow the exact same color then floated downwards, shrinking until locking itself right into Mimi's tag.

"So this is what Gennai meant… The Tag and Crest light each other up!" Sora spoke up.

"And I didn't even want this… Will I be able to bring Palmon up properly?" Mimi asked herself.

"Nothing's impossible if you put your mind to it!" Kylie tried to say brightly, but none of the children seemed to feel the same way.

"Well, you can't please everybody!" Beth huffed, giving Mimi a dirty look.

They walked off intending to find a place to camp for the night.

**_To be continued…_**


	10. Lessons with Piximon

The day was considerably somewhat fresher than the previous day, hence the group was back to wandering the desert. Thought it didn't help with Theo and Dana lightly singing 'Arabian nights'.

Mimi was holding up her crest by the tag. "I have a Crest now, but…"

"We don't know the right way to use them." Joe said thoughtfully.

"Or whether we're raising our Digimon the right way?" Sora finished.

Matt reminded them. "But keep in mind that we haven't yet found all of the Crests."

"Or how long do we have to be exposed to the digivices light so the older girls and I can use a new form." Kylie chimed in.

"You're right." acknowledged Izzy, thinking deeply. "We best should hold our thoughts on this until we've got them all before using them."

Tai and Agumon had been walking ahead of the group when the ground suddenly opened right under them! Did they just fall into an open pit?

Kuwagamon, who they recognize from before, hiding underground. Kuwagamon gets a hold of Tai, and all seems lost when Agumon hesitates to digivolve due to lingering trauma from the incident with SkullGreymon. Tai rescues Agumon from the attacking Kuwagamon's pincers.

Just before the guardians could leap in to fight, there came a light whistling sound through the air.

"Pit Bomb!"

The Kuwagamon had stopped in place before disintegrating into a pile of dust, blown away by the breeze. Fortunately, Tai and Agumon were unharmed, only covered in most of the sand. "Wh-What just happened?"

As the boy inquired this, something walked about two inches in front of him and Agumon. It had a fuzzy pink body, large grey eyes and a pair of white fairy-like wings.

"Pi pi pi pi pi pi pi…" the little being said with each step.

Beth spotted it and smiled, clapping her hands together in delight. "What is this little thing?"

Immediately the new digimon turned to face them. "Pi! You greenhorns!"

Piyomon rushed up front. "Oh, you must be Pixiemon!"

While Mimi did the exact same thing the guardians were thinking of doing: picking him up into her hands.

"He's cute." Mimi smiled.

Pixiemon didn't mind too much but that didn't stop him from rebuking the group. "Pi pi pi! Impressed by the force of my magic, aren't you pi?! You're supposed to be the Chosen Children, so I can't sit back and watch. You were so weak I couldn't stand watching you pi! And it cost you so much to get the Crests, since you don't even know how to use them right, you're wasting them pi!"

"This Digimon isn't pleasant." Mimi grumbled.

"Well neither are you, Mimada." Beth sneered back at her, "But we still put up with it!"

The ten year old scowled at the remark.

"Hey, what about us?" Dana questioned Pixiemon.

Theo snarked. "Yeah, what're we? Chopped liver?"

"Ah yes, the Guardians of the Ethereal Veil. Yet I see only five of you. If you're going to attain a new form, you must take responsibility for your actions and duty. The same goes for you Digimon pi! All of you are slacking off pi! You're lacking exertion pi! You have no guts pi!"

"Pi-pi-pi! That's all he says!" Matt grumbled.

Zaira elbowed him. "Don't push our luck, he may be onto something we don't know. It wouldn't hurt to listen."

"The thing is I don't like exerting myself." Palmon admitted, lowering her head.

"We don't even have the guts." Gomamon said.

"That's why all of you… will be coming with me to my territory for some training pi!"

"Training?" asked Sora.

"What do you mean?" Tentomon flew up.

"Especially for you over there!" Pixiemon then pointed to Tai. "You and your Agumon win the grand prize pi! You'll have intensive training with a special menu pi!"

"Special menu?"

"Intensive training?"

"Now, follow me pi! Pi pi pi pi pi-"

He began walking away while the group quickly huddled together – well the children mostly, the guardians were more keen on following Piximon seeing as he was another magic user.

"What should we do?" questioned Izzy.

"Can we even trust that Digimon?" Joe muttered.

Matt looked to his digimon. "How's he like, Gabumon?"

"He's a little fussy, but he's a good Digimon deep down."

"He doesn't have a black gear or a cable either." Palmon pointed out.

"I don't know about you all but he's already got my vote!" Dana piped up.

Kylie moved away, "I agree. Surely he can give us a few pointers revising spells or potions."

"And this new obscure transformation." Zaira added.

Sora said. "Then why not do what he says? It's true we don't know how to raise our Digimon correctly, anyway. It'll be fun if we think of it as a training camp."

"He said training, and I'm getting a little rusty on the area so I'm in." Theo added.

"Well, it certainly can't be any worse than simply walking around." Mimi commented.

"Hey, shouldn't we be catching up to him… right now!" Beth began to sprint after Piximon.

"What's taking the rest of you so long?! Hurry up pi!" Piximon had paused long enough to yell back at the others.

They all followed the little digimon through the desert for a couple of hours before he stopped in what looked like the middle of nowhere. However he flew up over their heads reciting an incantation, twirling his staff, causing a circular portal to open up much like the ripples in the water to reveal and immense jungle.

"Don't be so surprised pi. This is just the entrance through my barrier pi! Now follow me pi!"

The group nodded to one another before walking right in the portal closing behind them. As they followed Piximon they heard the sound of a truck horn behind them.

Sora cried. "Hey! Look behind us!"

They all turned to see a cylindrical trailer being pulled by a Monochromon and the kanji on it clearly read Etemon.

"What now?" Joe was greatly alarmed.

"That's Etemon's trailer pi. Nothing to worry about pi." Piximon flew up reassuringly. "He can't see through my barrier on the other side pi."

* * *

Meanwhile, Etemon was NOT happy. It's been couple of days since SkullGreymon had wrecked most of his dark network and thus completely unaware of Cockatrimon demise.

"You incompetent-! Have you fixed it yet or what?!" He snapped at the two Gazimon seated before the screen.

"It's being restored at a superb rate!"

"Wait just a little longer, please!"

"I can't wait anymore!" The ape snapped, jumping up and down on his seat impatiently. "Hurry up and repair my network now!"

* * *

After walking through the jungle for several minutes and passing by large columns, the group arrived to a an average sized mountain with a long stone stairwell engraved right into it.

"My house is up here pi." Pixiemon explained.

Naturally they started protesting, save for Theo and the Pantheon girls who looked at it in deep thought.

"Wait, does this mean our training has already started?!" Sora asked in disbelief.

"Exactly pi."

The kids fell to their knees with a tired groan.

"This is a piece of cake. After all, I can just…" Tentomon said brightly.

Pixiemon shook his right index finger at him. "Just so you know, flying is not allowed during training pi."

Tentomon fell over in disappointment.

"Now stop thinking how to cheat and start climbing pi!" Piximon said reprovingly.

Everyone moaned.

Theo urged, "C'mon you guys, we can still make it into something fun like a race."

"Give it a rest, it's not a competition!" Joe grumped.

Beth scoffed, "I can't work with this miserable crew!"

"Fine, but we're reaching the tip and getting better view of the area BEFORE YOU!" Dana taunted.

Without warning, she and her sisters sprinted to the stairs like a rabbit running through an open meadow.

"Hey, you're not leaving without me!" Theo called as she ran after them.

Zaira sighed shaking her head, "Ever since they've been training in martial arts from childhood they always have to go head first when it comes to a physical challenge… Hey, speedy! Wait up!"

The kids just groaned again, more at the fact that Theo and the girls had better stamina than them due to years of training.

It was sunset by the time the children and Zaira reached the top.

"It's pathetic to see you worn out from simple stuff like this pi! Your four friends have arrived less than an hour ago and waiting for you all pi?" Piximon scolded.

"About time you guys got here." Beth said, leaning casually against the side of the mountain.

Piximon then gestured to a semi circular building with at least five floors. "Look, there's my house pi."

The kids were exhausted but the mere mention of food had them hurrying inside. The inside looked be traditional architecture possibly from another Asian country. However most notably in the center of the building was a stone statue of Pixiemon himself.

"Hey… Where's the food?" Gomamon questioned.

"You have to complete another test before that pi."

"I knew you were going to say that."

Pixiemon again twirled his spear again, causing rags and buckets to appear at the groups's feet. "You'll be scrubbing all of these floors pi!"

Matt was taken aback as the others. "S-Scrubbing the floors?!"

"All of them from top to bottom?!" Tentomon gaped.

"No way!" Mimi whined. "This isn't fair!"

Piximon turned to Tai and Agumon. "You two have the special menu pi. Come with me pi."

"Special menu…" the two mumbled as they began to follow him.

"Will they be alright?" asked Kylie.

Piximon reassured her, "Your concerns are understandable. You don't need to worry about this boy, pi. I'll protect him with my life, pi. I might not look like it but I'm a Perfect Level, pi."

Tai made up his mind. "I'll take the training," he said. "But it won't be for me. It'll be for Agumon. For everyone. I'll do the best I can."

"There's no other choice. Let's get this over with." Sora said as the two walked out of sight.

"I've never scrubbed floors, not even in my own house!" Mimi griped.

Of course scrubbing the floors was no easy task and even the older girls had a hard time about it. Except unlike the children they didn't dare complain, feeling too curious and eager for any training related to magic.

"Is this really training?" Piyomon wondered.

"Maybe he's just using us to work as his maids…" Palmon guessed.

Zaira shrugged, "At least it's better than being out in the scorching desert."

"Tokomon, Dana, let's race to see who's faster!"

"You're on!"

"Okay! I won't lose to you!"

In an adorable idea to turn it into a little game, Dana, T.K. and Tokomon did a little race with their rags making their siblings smile.

* * *

That night, the group had fallen over, tired out from the day's work. Mere minutes before sunrise, Izzy and Matt had awakened full of unease.

"Tai and Agumon haven't come back yet."

"Yes. I wonder what happened to them."

Just then something glowed blue from under Matt's shirt and something purple form Izzy's, which could only mean their crests were nearby.

They walked out of Piximon's home and walked down the stairs guided by the light of their tags.

"Do you think maybe we should've brought our digimon with us or least one of the older girls?" Izzy questioned.

"Nah. Besides, we're safe within the barrier. Let's let them sleep."

"It's this way! Let's go!"

"Okay!"

The two boys were watched by a warmly smiling Pixiemon.

* * *

That very morning the group was awakened by the sound of Pixiemon banging his spear on a bucket. As if by instinct, the older girls leapt to their feet, looking alert, as if waiting to be attacked. Granted, it wasn't too far-fetched, taking into consideration the past events.

However upon seeing Pixiemon they gradually relaxed.

"It's morning pi! How long do you plan on sleeping pi?! Look sharp pi!"

Tentomon asked. "Has anyone seen Izzy?"

Gabumon perked up noticing his partner was gone too. "And Matt?"

"Hey, Pixiemon, do you know where they are?" asked T.K.

"Those two left to find their Crests pi."

"Oh, so he left me behind." Tentomon muttered, looking disappointed.

"Tai and Agumon haven't come back since last night… And now it's Izzy and Matt." Sora leaned in close to Joe's ear mischievously. "It's quite mysterious how they're disappearing one after another."

"Maybe Upperclassman Joe is next." Mimi said equally impish.

Joe looked greatly alarmed. "H-Hey, don't say weird stuff like that, you're scaring me! M-Maybe Pixiemon…"

"I'd like to see YOU disappear!" Beth jeered at Mimi.

The cowboy hat wearing girl glared back, "Same to you!"

"Oh, Joe, you get scared too easily!" Gomamon piped up. "It's all right. We can trust Pixiemon."

"Yeah, don't be such a wuss!" Theo said smacking Joe on the back a little too hard.

"Now, time for training pi!" Pixiemon shouted.

* * *

That very same morning, Matt and Izzy walking through the jungle in search of their crests.

"Why do you want your Crest, Izzy?"

"Why? It's very simple. I want to see what Kabuterimon evolves into next, of course! What about you, Matt?"

"It's because… what I want most is to improve! It's not just the Digimon who evolve and become stronger. We both grow to see things from another angle."

The boys stopped at the barrier and out to the portal seeing a well in the desert. They checked to see the tags still glowing… as was the inside of the well outside.

"The well is glowing! Our Crests must be inside!" Izzy cried.

"But it's outside the barrier!" Matt protested.

Izzy cautiously walked up to the barrier and reached out to make sure he can pass through. "We can go to the other side!" He said pointing.

Moment afterwards, they were scaling down the well's bucket's rope, counting their blessings for being younger otherwise the rope would've snapped.

They continued downwards until they spotted the symbols on the walls that glowed the exact same color as their tags. They help them up.

Izzy's crest was a purple symbol of three circles on one side connected by a line to two circles. Matt's was that of a blue circle with two half-circles within, along with two curved points at both sides.

Not one of the two boys noticed the cable spying on them…

* * *

Etemon was performing one of his many concerts, with and the Gazimon cheering, he was having a spectacular time. Pity it had to end.

"Etemon!"

Etemon spun around waving his arms frantically, as all the lights turned a dark, poison pink color.

A woman's voice bellows. "STOP YOUR INCESSANT SINGING, AND ANSWER THE PHONE!"

Etemon rushes to grab a communicator given to him by a Gazimon.

"Yes, your wickedness?" Etemon asked frantically. "You bellowed?"

"The crest of friendship and crest of knowledge, the brats who they belong to are out poking for them," A voice hissed in disgust. "Catch those boys, or I'll reduce you to your original state, comprende!?"

"Yes, your foulness, right away!" Etemon said with a salute.

And right on schedule, the network was back in working order and relayed the boys' location.

"There's a signal in the K-1 area!" A Gazimon pointed out.

"What? Hey! We just passed the place!" Etemon actually grabbed onto one of the Gazimon to the near point of strangulation. "The K-1 area is Tyranomon's territory. All right, I'll teach them a thing or two!"

* * *

Matt and Izzy climbed out of the well only to stare up at a bipedal, red-colored dinosaur with green plates in a line from the back of its head to its tail, it's back connected to several dark cables.

Naturally, the boys panicked and quickly fled to the barrier. Tyranomon attacked with a fiery breath that sent the boys flying forwards and as collateral damage, part of Pixiemon's barrier shattered now revealing the jungle oasis.

Back in Pixiemon's domain the guardians, remaining children and their digimon were meditating until Pixiemon suddenly stopped and tensed up.

"The barrier has been smashed pi! Matt and Izzy are in danger pi!"

"Oh no, Matt!" Gabumon cried.

"Izzy!" added Tentomon.

Quickly they all followed Pixiemon outside to meet with two of their missing comrades with the cable spying on them again.

"Oh goodie, they're all gathered there." Etemon guffawed, still shaking one of his subordinates. "Since I haven't done 'that' in a while, why don't we go with it? It's showtime!"

To the group's bewilderment four black cords sprung up before they're greeted with the unpleasant holographic sight of Etemon with his guitar. "Here I go! Destructive Concert!"

"Oh no!" Gabumon groaned.

"M-My power is drained." Tentomon fell down.

Etemon's awful singing had sapped the Digimon and the guardians of their energy yet again.

"With him singing like that none of them will be able to evolve!" Izzy said worriedly.

Tyranomon kept launching his attacks to the group except they were all shielded by a wall of energy held up by Pixiemon.

* * *

In the meantime, Tai and Agumon had been inadvertently sent on a spiritual journey into a brief glimpse of the past. Tai hadn't thought about Agumon's feelings or everyone else's feelings at all. He had gotten caught up in excitement of obtaining the first crest all by himself, had rushed forward all by himself, had tripped over and failed all by himself… …even though he had friends like T.K. who, despite being so young, knew how to treat people like him with kindness.

However it was thanks to his spiritual journey in Pixiemon's cave that enabled him to find what he needed the most: not to fear getting back up and trying again. Be it riding a bicycle or a new digievolution.

And so the sight of Greymon charging Tyranomon was a welcome sight for the group with a proud feral roar.

"It's Greymon!" Gabumon smiled.

"Agumon was able to evolve again!" Tokomon said.

While the two dinosaurs clashed, Tai walked to the others proudly.

"Tai!" Sora happily cried.

"Good to see you!" Beth smiled.

Tai nodded her as one leader to another. "Likewise."

Greymon then picked up Tyranomon intending to toss him to the ground, snapping several of the dark cables.

"Go! That's it, lift him up!" Gomamon cried.

"You can do it!" Palmon cheered.

Greymon slammed down Tyranomon, causing him to disintegrate. Victorious, Greymon roared triumphantly much to the cheers of the others.

'Tai and Agumon did an excellent job pi.' Pixiemon thought with smile.

By sunset, the group was ready to leave Pixiemon's home. Sure, it wasn't the Ritz but it was thanks to his teachings that the children no longer feared using the crests to help their digimon digivolve.

"Thank you all for your help and hospitality." Kylie thanked Pixiemon.

"Thank you for taking care of us." Agumon nodded.

"Don't think your training is over yet pi. Everything in life is a training session pi. Just do your best while never giving up pi!"

"Yes, sir!"

And so the group departed.

* * *

The next day, Beth presented Izzy with a suggestion.

"Izzy, would you be able to get in touch with Gennai? There's a lot we all want to talk with him about… not just on evolution, but also what we should do from now on."

"If it's not impossible, does that mean you can do it?" asked Sora.

"How?"

"Black cables?"

Everyone, including Sora, had seen the black cables connected to the enemy Greymon at the coliseum, but after SkullGreymon's frenzy, Izzy revealed that he had gone to where the enemy Greymon had first appeared in order to investigate how it had been set up. There, Izzy discovered that ahead of the ripped black cables was another black cable attached to a modular jack buried underneath the stone floor.

"Those black cables are probably laid all throughout Server Continent like a meshnet, creating the network. The modular jack was of the same standard as my laptop, so it may not be impossible for me to use my computer to break into the network. Except, it's the same network that Etemon uses. If we break into it without anyone noticing us, there wouldn't be a problem, but if we do get spotted, we're in trouble."

"Is there a way to keep us from being noticed then?" questioned Zaira.

After that, Izzy talked enthusiastically about access logs and proxies, but Sora (or most of the other girls for that matter) couldn't understand any of it. What she thought Izzy was trying to say, in the end, was that it was possible to hack into Etemon's network without him noticing, but if it failed, Izzy couldn't take responsibility. But he seemed confident, they had to break out of this stifling and cramped situation somehow.

"…Very well. I'll try it," Izzy consented. "But I don't think we should get our hopes up. I'm used to not finding him."

He smiled in an attempt of playfulness in order to set them at ease.

Folding himself within the small bottom of the empty well, Izzy tapped continuously on his laptop keyboard. From above the well, Sora looked down at him as he worked with a worried frown on her face.

Little did they know, that this would set off a chain reaction to important events yet to come.

**_To be continued…_**


	11. Datamon of the Labyrinth

Making a sweeping glance of the system, Izzy grew astonished as he saw that the network Etemon had built up was well maintained. It wasn't just connected throughout Server Continent, but in places outside the continent borders as well (there were other continents besides Server Continent around). Perhaps the network had existed there in the first place and Etemon was just using it for his convenience.

Just as a caution, Izzy rewrote the access logs and deleted all traces of his presence there, when he received an e-mail from a Digimon who knew of Gennai's whereabouts. It was from the Andromon they had met in Factorial Town on File Island.

Of course, since Izzy himself didn't have an e-mail address in this world, he had to make one. He logged into a random server on the system and illegally created an inbox for himself. 'I've informed Gennai of this. The reason why he hasn't contacted you until now was because Etemon was blocking him, but thanks to you, the network has jammed and he can contact you directly,' his e-mail wrote. 'Thanks to you, the network has jammed'.

Odd. All Izzy had done was hack into the network, not do anything that he could surmise would freeze it and shut it down. Or was it because he'd set up that new inbox that it caused some sort of glitch in the system?

The wise thing to do would have been to keep away from accessing the network for a longer period of time, but now that he had his own inbox, he couldn't help wondering excessively if someone (like Andromon or Gennai) had sent e-mail to him.

"Yes. This is undoubtedly the network Etemon uses to figure out our location so easily."

"Then he already knows we're resting here?!" Joe yelped.

"We should make a run for it then!" Mimi cried.

"Let's run, let's run!" agreed Palmon.

"Now now, calm down." Sora assured.

"Even if we run from here, he'll still find us wherever we go." Matt reminded them.

"Got a point," Beth said matter factly. "Look if Izzy can hack into the system, there's a good chance we could take down his network with a good trap or so."

Zaira turned around looking in all directions, expecting a premonition might seem like a long shot at this point since she hadn't received one in days. "Judging from our surroundings, it doesn't look like we've been noticed. Still we should never assume anything."

Izzy had been typing away at his laptop and then a window opened in it was a graph of the network. "Just as I expected. This is definitely connected to Etemon's network information. Maybe we can find a clue in here!"

"What's that mark?" T.K. pointed to the top left side of the screen.

"E-mail?" Izzy blinked in surprise. "But from who?"

"Think it could be from the enemy?" Joe asked.

"Nope, this doesn't sound the jerk's modus operandi."

"I wonder who it's from."

The sender of the e-mail came from someone named 'Datamon.' This was what had been written e-mail:

**_To the Chosen Children and the Guardians. I have heard much about you from the old man Gennai. Rescue me and I will give you one Crest that in my possession._**

**_If you walk in a straight line west from where you are now, you will come to the River of Sand. Please follow it to reach the pyramid where I can be found._**

With that, their conference on whether or not they should go to Datamon began.

* * *

The Gazimon on communications duty looked up as Etemon sat heavily on the sofa and said, "Etemon, sir, I've just received a communications message from Gatomon."

While Gatomon was Adult Level, not that they were of different status in the organization. That was only one of many reasons why Etemon resented her.

Etemon snorted. "Reinforcements? The cheek of her, to make fun of me. Tell her no."

The Gazimon was then heard sputtering apologies to someone else on the line. "No, no, milady. Not you, we meant -"

"Shut up, you brainless moron!" Etemon snapped.

"WHAT!?" A female voice boomed over the line.

"Oh no!" Etemon spins around in horror. "Not you! I meant this waste of data..."

Etemon's frantic explaining just seemed to enrage her more.

"Why you, imbecile, tone deaf..." and the connection was abruptly ended.

To top it all off, the dark network might be functional once again, but it was still failing somehow. Particularly that there was no certain reading on just where the Chosen children and the guardians could be.

"What in the world is going on here?!" Etemon growled. "Where are they?!"

"It's no use, Lord Etemon!" explained one of the Gazimon. "I don't see any malfunctioning here!"

"But there's an abnormality in the pyramid's host computer!" Another one said.

Etemon scowled. "It must be Datamon. We're going to give him a little visit!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

The group had followed the e-mail's directions until they entered a large canyon, however it was not the ideal hiding place.

"What do we do if it's the enemy's trap?" Joe asked, he feared the repercussions about being cornered in such an area without much cover.

"But he might turn out to be on our side, like Mr. Gennai." Mimi said unsurely.

"We can't just ignore him when he needs our help." said Tai.

Kylie pondered thoughtfully. "He said he had one of the crests in his possession, only Sora and T.K. have yet to attain theirs."

Indeed so that it was Sora and little T.K. that had their tags out, searching and waiting for the tell-tale glow. At that very moment, T.K.'s tag began glowing a bright yellow. "It's glowing!"

"It's close." Matt nodded.

Tokomon ran to the left a few feet before stopping. "T.K., over here! It's the crest!"

Quickly, they've reached the end of the canyon and low and behold: on the dead end was T.K.'s crest. A small sun that stood above a jagged bottom.

T.K. held up his tag, then he and the others had to cover their eyes as it glowed a blinding white before it became a yellow crest that slid right into T.K.'s tag.

"This is my Crest!" T.K. smiled proudly.

"That's great, T.K.!" Tokomon smiled.

"Guess it wasn't a trap after all." said Matt.

Which meant that the remaining crest must be Sora's. Six down, one to go. Izzy was reading the rest of the email. "He said that he'll tell us where the last Crest is after we help him."

"Okay. Then let's go do that right away!" Tai declared.

Mimi raised her head and noticed something. "Look at that!"

The cave like opening looked more the interior of some ancient ruins. Kylie was the first to walk in and look around curiously. Less than a minute, the group followed after her.

Izzy was typing furiously away. "There's no mistake! These are the same characters I've seen before in Andromon's factory and Centarumon's ruins! The only thing that's different is this symbol." He walked over to the square like symbol and rubbed on it until it was erased causing the entire tunnel to light up. "In here, energy is produced based on a program."

"What do you mean by that?" Mimi questioned

"In other words, if you rewrite the program that's written on this wall here, you can turn the light on or off. Maybe if I do this…"

To their astonishment, a holographic map appeared.

"That's a map of the neighboring area." Izzy explained.

"Hey, that IS a pretty cool trick!" Theo commented with an impressed grin.

"N-No way…" Joe put a hand on his head. "How are you able to do stuff like that just by using a program written on the wall? We're not inside a computer…"

Izzy turned to the group. "We're not sure of that. I've been thinking that perhaps this place… this entire world, is a place where data and programs have taken physical form."

"Oh, yeah. You mentioned that a while back." Matt remembered.

"If this is a world of data, then does that include us too?" Sora inquired.

"Yes. We exist completely as data without any genuine substance."

"No substance?" repeated Tai. "You mean we don't have a body of flesh and blood?"

"Something like ghosts?" Mimi guessed.

"S-Something close to that." Izzy said uncertainly.

"Except for the overwhelming fact that _we still have a notable pulse_!" Zaira said flatly.

Matt asked. "Then… Where are our bodies?"

"Perhaps… Still on the campgrounds…The Digimon are 'Digital Monsters' in the truest sense. They're life forms shaped together from data."

"Then we're inside something like a video game?" T.K. questioned.

"It's not as simple as that…"

"Could the person who sent that e-mail be made of data too?" Matt asked.

"P-Please wait a minute! I'll make it easier for you to understand." Izzy typed away until the holographic map became a globe. "I've adjusted it so you can see the entire globe. This includes the program I saw in Andromon's factory… If I combine it with the map Gennai sent me…"

Dana stared up at it. "Wow, this is bigger than Mewni and rivals the size of Magix."

"It's about as wide as Earth." Matt remarked.

"In other words, it's identical." Izzy informed them.

This surprised them all.

"But that's impossible!" Zaira gaped.

"Here, look at this e-mail address." Izzy points to his screen. "The computer that sent this e-mail is located… Over there!" A red dot began flashing on the globe. "That's the same place as a homepage that I visited frequently on the Internet!"

"What does that mean?" Tai asked again.

Sora inquired. "Are you saying the e-mail came from our world?"

"That's not all." As Izzy continued explaining, a second globe appeared, this one of Earth. "Over on the right is the Earth we know of. If you put our computer network system on top of this world…"

Both globes fused together but one detail stood out the most to them all.

"The shape of the networks is exactly the same!" Sora cried

"So what does this all mean?" Mimi questioned.

"This is a world that's only made of data." Izzy explained. "It's the same as what you would find in a video game or a computer. But that doesn't mean we're somewhere far from Earth. We're inside our own computer network itself! In other words, this Digimon world is in the same place as our world… You could even call it the Earth's shadow!"

"The Earth's…" Matt mumbled.

"Shadow…? This… This was Earth?!" Joe shouted in near disbelief.

Theo stared up at the globe. "Wow… so we've just jumped to another dimension that basically right next door to Earth!"

"Which reminds me." Izzy looked at the map then at the older girls briefly, "Beth told me that magical equipment would usually go haywire in the presence of magic… Basing everything we know of Sirene: her being a former nymph from the magic dimension, having discovered this world and helping it grow, aiding the Digimon…. This leaves me to believe a theory that the Digiworld somehow acquired its own source of magic with her influence. It would certainly explain why nothing else that's electronic malfunctioned with the guardians' presence."

Dana and the girls nodded brightly. "True. Sirene must've been both the Digiworld's guardian nymph and its heart."

"What's that mean?"

Beth looked thoughtful then began speaking as if almost to herself. "If I remember this right, in matters of magickery… Hearts are the sources of immense magical energy for each of the worlds they come from. Each world has a mystical Heart that is the source of that world's power. They can be represented by a jewel, a talisman or…"

She looks at Kylie mystified, very soon the other guardians share her dumbfounded expression.

"What?" Sora asked.

"What else?"

Beth nodded slowly. "A living being."

"To cut to the chase, we're all most likely walking and talking with the Digi-world's living source of supernatural energy." Theo said presenting a hand towards Kylie, who looked greatly taken aback.

"Except she wasn't the only one that visited..."

Izzy's words startled Kylie.

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"Someone else came, another being, a...woman?" Izzy peers at the hieroglyphs. "A...Dark One. She brought the stronger viruses, infected the Digital World. Corrupted it and..." Izzy's eyes widened.

"What?" Kylie felt nervous. "Izzy, what!?"

"S-she was responsible for the death of Sirene," Izzy answered in chilled tone. "Your mother, died because of this other being…?"

They all looked downcast, not sure how to react to such information, or what to say to Kylie. The bookish blonde sighed, putting her hands in her pockets and glanced around the symbols. If only there was a clue or something she could use from these hieroglyphics that could help them or bring answers to the questions she still has.

"Yet I wonder…" Kylie held up her right hand, it started to glow a turquoise blue.

She then carefully placed it on the wall. The moment her entire palm was on it, the symbols changed to a shining gold color causing the group to cry out with surprise. And little by little, they began to fade down until only a few of them continued to glow.

Kylie looked a little disappointed. "But I'm afraid I can't read these symbols, as much I want to understand."

Izzy looked thoughtful. "Perhaps they mean something…"

"Does this mean we can find a way home?" asked T.K.

"No." Matt said somberly. "It's not like that. We're really close, but we're not on Earth itself."

"Now I'm confused more than ever on what to do." Joe muttered sitting down.

"Oh, what are you talking about?" Gomamon crawled up to him. "You got me!"

"Sora. I couldn't understand much of it, but does this mean you're leaving?" Piyomon asked her partner.

Sora replied. "No. It appears we still have stuff to do in this world, so we can't leave until we've finished that."

"Yeah. Anyway, we should save the guy who sent the e-mail first." Tai reminded them then looked to Izzy. "Where do we go next?"

"Well… If I run the program that came attached to the e-mail…"

"The wall!" Agumon cried.

"I can see outside!" Gabumon chimed in.

They looked out, they were still in the desert, and the opening was an open mouth of a sphinx statue. There was also a pyramid at least many yards away to the far left. Except the shape of the pyramid was upside-down from the pyramids that they all knew.

And to their consternation, driving right towards the pyramid was Etemon's trailer.

Tai whipped out his spyglass to see. "It's Etemon!"

"So this must be his den." remarked Zaira.

They watched as the trailer slowed down, the murderous monkey jump out and walk to the pyramid.

"There's no way we could get in there without being spotted. So what do we do now?" asked Matt.

"Let's rest for the remainder of the day. I'll try to figure out something by tomorrow." advised Izzy.

* * *

That night Kylie's dreams were far from pleasant.

_A dark image filled her head, five shadowy beings, one with eyes glowing pink, and holding a silver scepter, which had a horned skull, carved from black crystal, resting in a hand on the top._

_Sirene, mother, cradling a small bundle, as the figures loomed over the Nymph._

_"What a shame...no sisters to aid you, no dragon fire to call upon. Only your own powers, My Dear. And I'm afraid, they're of no use to you now!" A dark, twisted, female voice proclaimed._

_And the scepter was pointed at Sirene, who screamed as the eyes of the skull glowed red, and shot out beams._

Kylie grasped her head, gasping in agony, as she flailed and thrashed, the others coming to her side in alarm.

"Kylie? Kylie!" Tokomon hovered over her in concern.

"This isn't going to work…" Beth sighed, then she picked up one of the phials she'd filled with water and tossed it at Kylie.

The blonde girl was startled awake. Taking deep breaths, she sat up, looked slowly around at both the other girls, the children and digimon's worried faces and asked what happened.

"You were tossing, turning and just about wheezing in your sleep, that's what." Theo answered.

"More like what felt like a nightmare…" Kylie replied, Or rather, some sort of past warning.

And she explained what she'd dreamt, leaving them with more anxieties that they already had.

* * *

The following morning, they'd received a layout of the pyramid's interior and how to reach the hidden room, making it vital in their plan to obtain Sora's crest.

"There's a hidden passageway in the pyramid that's not visible." Izzy told them.

"Our first and foremost priority is to save the sender and get Sora's crest. So no starting any fights!" Joe lectured.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Tai said indignantly.

"I wanted to go too." T.K. said in disappointment.

"Don't be selfish, T.K." Matt reminded him.

"And me!" Dana piped up.

Kylie sighed, "Dana, we already talked about it last night: We'd go recover the crest while you and Zaira stay here with the others to hold down the fort."

"Be careful, everyone." Mimi told them. "And you too Beth."

"I'll hold you to those words." Beth teased.

"Keep steady." Palmon said worriedly.

"Come back safely!" T.K., Tokomon and Dana waved them goodbye.

The scouting group crossed the sand dunes on direction to where the hidden passageway is located according to the map Izzy had received.

Although they had been certain that the pyramid would be made up of piled-on stones or bricks, it was made up of large colored tiles instead. Even its tiny passageways had tiles, and the clouds of sand that had come blowing in from above piled across them like a fur carpet.

Tai and Theo peeked to the left to see Etemon walk out of the pyramid entrance, yawning and stretching. With great alarm, they moved back.

"What's wrong Tai?" Agumon asked, noticing their unease.

"It's Etemon!" Tai croaked back.

Joe yelped and that got his attention!

"Who's there?" Etemon's voice asked, he was coming over!

"What do we do, Sora?" Piyomon asked.

"Be quiet." whispered Sora.

The group backed up and found the hidden entrance to the pyramid, stumbling into it just before Etemon rounded the corner.

"Was it my imagination?" Etemon wondered.

Then to Beth, Theo and Kylie's laughter, Tai stuck out his arm out with a wave before pulling it back and calling out to get Etemon to talk to himself.

"I don't know why, but I feel like someone was making fun of me! Grr, I'm so irritated! I'll go sing something to release tension."

And he walked away. Briefly, Tai went back out before returning.

"He's gone." He told them. "It's all right now."

"Don't be crazy! What if he found us?!" Sora said to him.

"But we're perfectly fine!"

"So this is the hidden passageway." Joe looked around.

"It looks like it has data on the outside, but there's really nothing in it." explained Izzy.

As if to test the theory Agumon hit the wall only to hurt his claw.

Izzy added. "Everything besides the passageway is made up of data, so please be careful."

Down the hallway they walked before reaching stairs and another wall they could see through.

"We can see outside from here." Tai noted.

"Yes." Izzy was reading the instructions from his laptop. "But no one can see us from the other side."

"Look there's some Gazimon." Agumon piped up.

They watched as two Gazimon started to walk by.

Sora ordered. "Nobody make a sound."

However, Tai ran out and kicked the one on the right before rushing back. Of course, the kicked Gazimon thought the other one was the culprit.

"Hey, what's the matter with you?!"

"What're you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb! You just kicked me from behind!"

"No, I didn't."

"Oh yeah?! Take that!"

As a result the two Gazimon begin to fight much to Tai, Theo and Beth's amusement.

"You're out of your mind!" Sora rebuked Tai as they walked down the hallway. "What would you have done if those Digimon had found us out?!"

"You worry too much. We're just data, you know." Tai said dismissively.

"Tai, you…!" Sora was about to lecture him again.

"Oh give us a break! That was hilarious!" Theo giggled.

Sora pretty much facepalmed. "That's not the point!"

The group navigates through a series of secret passageways and eventually makes their way to the system's 'firewall', a fence crackling with electricity. Izzy pointed out the entrance and Tai walked in without hesitation much tot the shock of the others. They'd entered an enormous technological room the four guardians were sure they'd find on Zenith.

"Here's our destination." Izzy concluded.

"This?" Tai glanced around.

In the very center of the room, was a small glass pyramid that contained a small robot, which turned around to face them. A crack ran through its glass covered head, with one of its two lights broken. From the broken one peered out a light-bulb that looked like an eye bloodshot from lack of sleep, made up of a bundle of coral pink cable cords that made it look similar to an actual flesh-and-blood eye.

Sora asked. "This small Digimon was the one who sent the e-mail?"

"That's exactly right." A voice responded from Izzy's laptop.

Izzy looked from the digimon, who Tentomon identified as Datamon, to his laptop and said. "He's sending data directly through my IR port!"

"I once fought with Etemon long ago and was crushed." Datamon said sadly. "One of my rare miscalculations...My broken body imprisoned here. On top of having my ability to formulate stolen, I was given the job of supervising Etemon's network system as his Web Master. But one day, I recovered my memories and began to slowly repair my body in a way Etemon wouldn't notice. Soon I learned of everything that happened outside, and I became able to meddle with that information. However… I'll need a considerable amount of outside help to release me from confinement."

"But...wouldn't it have made more sense to destroy you?" Kylie asked.

"He wanted to..." Datamon made a sound, like a laugh of glee. "But he couldn't...for he has the same weakness as his 'Creator.' AS long as I hold a crest, the banana munch buffoon is incapable of COMPLETELY destroying me."

"His...creator?" Izzy sounded perturbed.

"I do hope he does have my crest." Sora mumbled.

"Of course. I know many things that Etemon himself has not even heard of!"

Joe looked to the older girls, "Can we really trust him?"

Datamon's voice replied, "Both you and I share Etemon as our enemy. Please trust me."

Beth and Kylie exchanged looks with their fellow guardians, who nodded.

"Let's do it." Kylie agreed.

"Okay then. Well, what should we do?" Tai asked Datamon.

"Just follow my instructions."

He sent written explanations and sometimes graphics to illustrate how to fix the damage, which Izzy explained out loud in minute detail.

"Stop right there!"

As they were partway through the multiple step process in dismantling the prison walls, Etemon appeared. He was standing aright at the entrance they'd used to walk in. "Anyone could see the mischief you caused, we have surveillance cameras here, you know!"

The two quarreling Gazimon jumped out.

"How dare you…"

"Make fun of us!"

Tai looked sheepish. "Ah, they found us out."

"This is all your fault, Tai!" Joe yelled.

"They deserved it!" Beth answered back, "All that stalking and trying to get rid of us!"

"My network began acting funny ever since they landed here. But you had something to do with it!" Etemon glared at Datamon

"I finished my maintenance just before they arrived."

"They'll see." Etemon smirked then charged towards the group.

The digimon digivolved to fight back.

"You're in the way!" Etemon punched Greymon away like a baseball bat and grabbed Ikkakumon by the horn to throw him at Kabuterimon!

"Don't get too comfortable, monkey-butt!" Beth yelled.

She and the girls transformed in three different flashes of colors. Pink for Beth, Red orange for Theo and Turquoise for Kylie.

He skidded to a brief halt, probably because he's never seen the girls fully up close. No surprises there, seeing as the guardians resembled college girls in sparkling outfits.

"You two overdue books? Cuz you got FINE written all over you!" He asked as the girls took fighting stances.

Well, to be precise, he practically ignored Kylie, looking only at the the other two.

"Oh brother…" Kylie rolled her eyes. She didn't know whether to be relieved he wasn't ogling her or worried that he was using a cheesy pick up line on the other two guardians. Probably as a ridiculous thought process that every singer needs female fans.

Theo scoffs in disgust. Beth's face contorted animalistically.

"EX-CUSE me?!" Beth spat, "Do you even practice being this crummy?"

"We used to think you were a huge pain," Theo sneered, "Now we all have a much lower opinion of you."

Kylie demands Etemon, "Well, I only want to know one thing from you: Are you the one responsible for the death of my mother, Sirene the nymph?!"

Even the kids had paused momentarily, they wanted to hear this as well.

"Ha! I wish, no. But only the mad artist can tell you for sure." Etemon taunted.

Tai took the opportunity to push up the lever that would free Datamon from his glass enclosure.

"You should see for yourself how powerful you've made this prison!" Datamon challenged Etemon.

Without warning the glass was launched towards Etemon, who merely punched it to bits as the guardians dodged them. The other glass sides hit the Gazimon and Birdramon slamming her into the wall and causing her to change back to Piyomon.

"Piyomon!" Sora cried in distress for her partner.

"Why did you do that?!" Tai demanded.

"Because you finished your use to me!"

Etemon chuckled snidely. "That's the kind of guy Datamon is."

"Etemon, you are a fool, following HER! You aren't even a true digimon, like me!" Datamon pointed.

"What is he talking about?" Beth questioned.

Etemon snapped at Datamon. "Don't you dare go slandering my Bad name, punk!"

"Spare me, your just HER creation, she couldn't come here herself. So the Mad Artist, painted her signature on the canvas of this world!" Datamon points at Etemon with a sneer. "You are nothing by a Trojan virus, and I plan to eradicate you from this world, and HER for good!" He lifted his right hand and shot out tiny red missiles "Plug Bomb!"

Etemon countered with a ball black and green energy that formed in his right hand. "Dark Spirits!"

When the two attacks clashed, it resulted in an explosion that could be seen from the outside. Sora was kneeling next to her unconscious digimon partner when Datamon had landed next to them.

"Tough luck, looks like I win again." Etemon declared.

"The only thing you're good at is fighting, like the monkey that you are!" Datamon sneered grabbing Sora and Piyomon into his clutches. "I'll be more then a match for you and your despicable mistress! Once I use their true power, your death is guaranteed! Prepare yourself!"

With that he left with his two hostages out the door!

"Wait!" Etemon attempted to follow only to be blocked by the other Digimon.

The guardians and other children meanwhile pursued Datamon until they stopped before an electric fence.

"Tai!" Sora's voice screamed.

"Where did he take her?" Kylie asked.

"He escaped through the hidden passageway!" Izzy observed.

"Her voice came from this direction." Tai with grim determination started walking towards the electrified fence.

"Wait Tai! We first have to verify the location!"

"Relax, we're just data, remember? If we make a mistake, we can just start over!"

For once the older girls look horrified. "What?!"

"Stop him!" cried Izzy.

Joe didn't need to be told twice, and grabbed Tai by the arms.

"Hey! Let me go! Sora's in danger!" Tai struggled.

"Tai, you can't be thinking that just because you're data, it's the same as a video game character, do you?"

"Aren't we that?"

Izzy negated darkly. "Absolutely not! It's exactly the same as if we're living and breathing back in our world."

"What?" A look of horror dawned on Tai. "N-No way!"

"I'm afraid it is." Kylie confirmed soberly. "Otherwise Sirene would've made it back to Magix by now with her findings."

The issue of their mortality still being a true thing in this world hit Tai like the force of a heavy anvil. Izzy had begun typing to decipher the entryway.

"The hidden passageway is one meter from your right." He pointed.

Tai walked over as if in a daze, but he couldn't move another inch.

"We can't wait much longer!" Theo hollered, "The jerk will be here any minute!"

"Get back!" Beth ordered the kids, "We're gonna blast through!"

Before they could begin, the wall on the left behind them was broken open with the the other three digimon back in child form.

"No good… Tai… He's too strong for us…" from the floor Agumon moaned.

"Now that it's come to this, I'll just finish off these kids first before I take out that rusty oil can!" Etemon smirked.

Beth and the guardians prepared to defend the boys to the death if need be, before part of the roof collapsed. Then Garurumon, Togemon, Zaira and Dana fell through. The two digimon and five guardians used their attacks as diversion long enough so that the heroes could make their escape.

"Guys! You all okay?" asked Matt.

"Where's Sora?" Dana had noticed the tomboyish 5th grader wasn't with them.

"Let's run while they distract him! Tai, hurry up!" Matt grabbed him and they hurried upwards.

"Oh please, you think that's gonna stop me?!" Etemon snapped once the attacks died down. He then glanced around in confusion. "Where did they go?"

* * *

Once back in their hiding place the group explained all that had happened while at the pyramid.

"I see… Sora and Piyomon were kidnapped…" Matt said grimly.

The other children looked serious. Tai was sitting on the ground tearfully, "It's all my fault! Sora, it's all my fault!"

"Don't blame yourself, if anybody it's that creep Datamon's fault!" Dana said to Tai in an effort to reassure him.

"No!" The boy suddenly looked up as if reaching an epiphany. "It was me that that kept jumping into things without thinking that we could still die here like we could back home and Sora got kidnapped. And it was me who doubted!"

"Well sitting around here isn't going to help get her back." Zaira said sternly.

"We'll rescue Sora… and we must!" Kylie placed a fist into her palm determinedly as emphasis.

**_To be continued…_**


	12. Rescue mission

They all wanted to help save their captive friends. But… planning was an entirely different story. While Izzy typed away attempted to hack through to locate Datamon's system, the others were discussing as they all dined.

"If what he said is true, he won't bring any harm to Sora." murmured Mimi.

"But we can't just leave things alone the way they are!" Beth said sternly.

"I know that!"

"We don't even know where they are, the best option we have is to wait for Datamon's movements." Said Joe.

Tai looked at him darkly, "But what if something else happens to Sora or Piyomon?"

"What Datamon wants the most is to defeat Etemon," Matt spoke up, "By defeating him, maybe then we'll get them back from Datamon, safe and sound."

Mimi protested. "But we just lost a fight with him!"

Zaira sighed regrettably. "And unfortunately as we've seen, he seems to be resistant to basic defensive magic."

"Without proper ingredients we're plumb out of ideas for making potions as weapons too." Dana slumped. "Just one of the few times we need a magical upgrade."

Just then, T.K. who had been quietly listening all that time, suddenly stood up straight and raised his hand. "I have an idea."

"What?" Matt asked.

T.K. straightened up even further and said, "I know he's our enemy, but maybe Etemon could help us."

Matt's ears turned red, all the way to his earlobes. "What are you talking about, T.K.? Of course he won't do that!"

But as if she held admiration for T.K.'s wild idea, Kylie asked, "What made you come up with that idea?"

T.K. peeked nervously at his brother's face as he continued. "Because… Datamon is Etemon's enemy, right? Then since we're the same…"

Mimi smiled crookedly, thinking that it was the sort of view to be expected from a second grader. But next to her, Joe suddenly rubbed his head with both hands, skewing his hair. "T—that might be a good idea!"

"What do you mean, Joe?" Mimi asked, staring at him wide-eyed.

"Going up to him and asking for his help isn't gonna work, but if we set up Etemon as a diversion, perhaps we could create an opening."

"But wouldn't that be dangerous?" Mimi asked, her brows furrowing worriedly.

"It may be dangerous, but it's worth a shot," Beth said. "If we can make it go right, Etemon and Datamon may possibly attack each other. Even if both of them survive, they'll have taken on a lot of damage. Secondly, it would give Izzy the chance to learn more about the pyramid's security. If we keep standing by to watch, the dangers won't change, so I agree with Joe's idea."

"I've got it! I've deciphered it!" Izzy cried out to them.

But was only with Izzy's help that they were able to discover where Datamon had taken them: a hidden room under the pyramid.

_

After chaining his hostage Sora to the wall, Datamon used his repaired hand to hit the keyboard keys at a speed that couldn't be caught by the eye. He had changed the network system and programs skillfully, without any of his enemies noticing. Many other evil digimon out there seemed to think that by changing the order of the world, it would make it easier to control, but Datamon did not agree. Datamon, whose thinking processes should be on a higher level than they were, was seeking to bring chaos into the world, which he found ironic as Etemon and the others were seeking order. And thus, Datamon had a special secret plan.

By releasing someone from the other end of the "Wall of Fire" into this world, their presence alone would create distortions to break out.

Datamon had no idea how much power it held or even if it could be controlled. Still, if that ended up destroying this world, he didn't care. Even if it was only for a short time, if it caused panic in Etemon for disgracing him and those other morons behind him, that would be enough to satisfy him… but the grudges that seethed within his heart when he shouldn't have felt any emotion to begin with, was due to a fatal error that had sparked out of one of the thought circuits that Etemon had destroyed.

That was when Sora began to stir, she opened her eyes to see Piyomon bolted to the wall ten feet from her.

"Piyomon!" She tried to get up before noticing that she was clamped down on some medical table.

"It's best not to struggle." Datamon's voice said to her as the lights came on. "Piyomon has merely lost consciousness… I still need her to defeat Etemon for me…"

"Defeat Etemon? Well, too bad for you, but Piyomon can't digivolve without me." Sora challenged.

"I don't plan to use you." Datamon replied before turning to type something on the console.

Then some orange beam passed over Sora."What is this?!"

"Watch and you'll see."

She looked to her right to see another table and saw it start to form shoes…

"It's copying you. None of you have drawn out the power of your Crests at all." Datamon remarked pushing a button to reveal Sora's crest which was a red heart shape with a circle on the right half side. "That's why I'll use this copy of you to pull out that power."

"My Crest - so you had it!" Sora yelled, "You're a coward! Since you can't win on your own, you take someone else's power!"

Another button was pushed to reveal her tag and digivice, then the crest was slid into the tag causing it to flash red momentarily.

Datamon then began to speak again. "When I once fought against Etemon, I lost most of my memories in the process. These memories will no longer return. The only thing I can do now is to exact my revenge on Etemon… by any means necessary! You see...she can't stand it, for it possesses the ONE energy that can destroy her...Love."

"Love?" Sora exclaimed in surprise and confusion. "But...what kind of person, can be harmed by Love?"

"Not a PERSON, or Digimon per-say, My Dear." Datamon explained. "Truth be told, without my memories, I can't fully remember, or comprehend WHAT she is...but I know one thing. If SHE has her way with this world, I'd rather be digitized!" Datamon's mad eye gleamed red.

_

At daybreak, Tentomon had flown out to observe the pyramid. A holographic map was created with red triangular dots that represented the guards that were Tyranomon, Monochromon and Gazimon.

"As you can see here…" Izzy was debriefing. "This is how the Digimon are currently positioned around the vicinity of the pyramid. It'll be impossible for us to sneak inside unnoticed."

It was the perfect plan, Tai and Izzy would would enter the pyramid to rescue Sora while the guardians and the other children with their digimon would keep Etemon and his forces busy.

"Guide me on where to go along the way, okay, Izzy?" Tai asked, his hand on the younger boy's shoulder.

"Okay, but…"

"What's the matter? Is something bothering you?"

"We need to go through this hidden passageway to get into the room, but the wall here is electrified, just like the place  
Datamon previously used to escape."

Tai froze previously before hardening. "I'll save Sora no matter what."

"Saving Sora is our first priority. But don't take on any unreasonable battles if you can help it, please." Joe reminded Tai.

Tai nodded firmly. "Right."

"The rest of you should also avoid doing anything risky." Izzy added. "If Etemon shows up, no one will blame you if you run."

"Agreed." acknowledged Matt. "Did you get that, T.K.?"

"Yes."

"Let's all come back here safely." Mimi gave them a thumb up.

Everyone raised a fist in agreement. They jumped out and moved into position.

The yellow vinyl sheet that Mimi had snuck into camp without telling her father came in handy at an unexpected place. Once it was spread out over their heads, no one could distinguish them from the sandy soil around them.

"Like camouflage," Matt said wryly. He was thinking that the pyramid's security system certainly wouldn't be expecting them to be using such childish methods.

It was Joe who had come up with the idea. He even went so far as to name it the 'Macbeth's Forest' strategy, but neither Matt nor Mimi were interested enough to ask him why. Nevertheless, although he was usually so clumsy, even Joe thought strangely of himself that his head was working faster than usual for this plan. At the same time, he felt worry that his actions might somehow lead to the greatest clumsy act of all and Joe strongly hoped that it wouldn't bring them to a lethal end.

A reflective from Beth was the signal Joe and Ikkakumon needed. They, Matt and Garurumon would be the decoys in charge of leading the guards away from the pyramid.

"Harpoon Vulcan!"

Inside the pyramid, the Gazimon in the control room were sound asleep. However, the rumbling from the first stroke caused the place to rumble and shake. The screens turns on to show Ikkakumon shooting at the pyramid.

"What is it?"

"What's wrong?"

"What's going on here?!" Etemon removed a bathrobe as he walked into the control room.

"Ikkakumon is attacking, sir!" answered one of the Gazimon.

"So bomb him back!"

Ikkakumon's attack continued, it was enough to send the guards to come after him and Joe.

"Here they come." Joe whispered, the he got up on Ikkakumon and called out to Matt, who was behind a column of rocks with Garurumon.

"Now it's our turn." Matt murmured.

They charged out from behind to the enemy and attacked. "Howling Blaster!"

"There's another one over there!" cried a Gazimon.

_

"The Chosen Children are running away!" one of the Gazimon in the control room informed their Boss. From another screen, a shadowed female figure is also watching.

"But what are they doing? And where are those showy friends of theirs?" Etemon demanded. "What are they plotting? Have you found where Datamon is yet?"

"I-I'm sorry, sir. Datamon seems to have modified the network, so its search functions have been greatly destabilized."

"Never mind. If you find him, make sure to contact me." Etemon started to walk out.

"Lord Etemon?"

"I'll be back, I'm going to get rid the nuisances I see before me first."

The shadowy female figure spoke it had the same voice as the one that conversed with Etemon on destroying the children and the guardians. "Beware of the Guardians, Etemon. They aren't digimon, and you've not had to fight magic before," Lady Despair warned. "Especially Sirene's Heir, she's a fountain of magical energy, and could do you harm."

"Then I'd better do it the old fashioned way!" Etemon replied.

He went outside and leapt onto the top of his trailer. "I'll settle things with you all today!"

That was the chance Tai and Izzy needed to sneak into the pyramid. Of course most of the passages had damage from the previous fight and unfortunately for them, surveillance cameras.

One of the Gazimon noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. "Did something just show up on the monitor?"

"Maybe it's your imagination."

_

Observing the situation from under their yellow sheet, T.K., Mimi and the guardians quickly saw Etemon's trailer going after Matt and Joe. Mimi crawled out of the tarp. "I'm still worried about them. Let's go, Palmon."

"Okay."

With one speedy evolution Togemon and Mimi were on the move.

"Stay here, okay?"

T.K. and Tokomon nodded silently.

"We better join in too." Beth urged the girls.

Several colorful flashes later they were all in Charmix mode. They flew on over in time to see Etemon confront the other children.

"I will personally take down the Chosen Children and Sirene's little Heir!" He laughed.

His own army had already suffered a lot of casualties. Ikkakumon and Joe avoided Etemon's Dark spirit attack which landed right in front of them.

"This way!" Ikkakumon said as they fled towards one of the dunes, only for Etemon to speedily run up that very same one.

"You think you can escape from me?!"

Matt and Garurumon came up from behind. "Howling Blaster!"

Etemon simply dodged the attack. Togemon was up next. "Needle spray!"

The ego maniacal monkey merely swatted the needles away much to their dismay.

"I see you're showing up one after the other. Aren't there more of you? Where are they hiding?" Etemon demanded.

"We don't need to tell you!" Matt answered back.

Garurumon pounced only for Etemon to jump up, grab him by the tail and swing him around.

"Garurumon!" Matt hollered

Ikkakumon tried to body slam the monkey next, but Etemon just started to punch him up and down before tossing him away next to Garurumon.

"Ikkakumon!" Joe yelled out.

Again Togemon tried her Needle spray only for Etemon to catch several of them between his fingers and toes then throwing them back at her.

"Togemon!" Mimi cried out.

Beth called to the older girls, "They're down, and we're going in!"

The guardians rush into the fray. Etemon dodges Beth's Psionic fury. Kylie tried tackling him except he grabs her left arm and leg then begins to swing her around like one would the Olympic hammer throw and flung her at Dana.

Upon impact, the two fell in a heap on the sand.

"I was just a little off my guard yesterday, but you're not getting away from me this time!" He pulled out his microphone and (to their chagrin) "Dark Network Concert Crash! YEAH!"

This drained the energy of the Digimon before causing them to change back to their Child-Level and left the guardian's ears ringing – fortunately they were still in Charmix mode.

"Now for the final blow. Dark…" Etemon was just about ready to finish them off.

Just then the loudspeakers from the pyramids relayed.

"Lord Etemon! We have trouble! Two of of the Chosen Children have invaded the pyramid!"

"What?! Why would they do that?" He then remembered the events from the previous day. "That means Datamon's still inside the pyramid? Am I right?" The moment he turned around, he saw that his opponents had all vanished. "Hey, wait a second! Where did you go?! At least answer my questions! I can't fight in such a critical time. I promise to finish you off later!" He rushed back to the pyramid.

In the meantime the guardians had ushered the children and their digimon under the tarp with T.K.'s assistance.

"You're a big help, T.K." Matt thanked his little brother.

"Tokomon helped out too."

"Thanks, Tokomon." Joe acknowledged.

"But Tai and the others…" Matt remembered.

"They're in the middle of saving Sora right now." Mimi looked to where the pyramid is.

"Which is EXACTLY where Etemon's headed!" Cried Zaira.

Beth looked to the kids, "We'll try to hold him back that way Tai and Izzy can save Sora!"

The children protested but already the older girls were off liked multicolored comets.

Etemon screeched with rage as a laser cannon that had appeared from the side of the pyramid blasted his trailer, his pride and joy, into smithereens.

Inside the pyramid, the alarms were going off and the Gazimon running around.

"I guess they know we're here." said Tentomon.

"We were almost there." said Izzy as they peered into another hallway. "When you turn right, the wall directly ahead of you is the hidden passageway to Datamon's room."

Tai cursed their luck when the roof began to crumble and caved in, revealing Etemon! Frightened, they ran through the wall, whereas, he smashed it down with his own two fists.

"Found you!" He shouted. "Now tell me where Datamon is!"

As soon as he finished saying that, the guardians burst out of nowhere. Beth and Theo were the first to tackle Etemon to the ground.

"We got this!" Dana called to the boys, "Hurry!"

Izzy quickly turns to Tai, "Tentomon, the girls and I will do something to hold him back! Hurry up and save Sora!"

"Tentomon digivolve to…KABUTERIMON!"

"Take care of it, you two!" Tai called as he and Agumon ran to the electrified wall.

"Wait!" Etemon cried even as he struggled to get loose from the two fairies' grip.

He bursts free and shoves the two back, Kabuterimon blocks him and the two began to fight which ended with them rolling down the stairs to where Tai and Agumon were.

"Not so fast!" Kylie cried out, and from her hand was a beam of rainbow light, which struck Etemon in the back.

"Ow! Cheap shot, Blondie!" Etemon huffed. "DARK NETWORK!"

He hurls a ball of dark energy at them, but Beth and Theo blasted it with pink energy and fire.

"Take this, Electro-beam!" Zaira called out.

She produced an electric whip, and shot it at Etemon. But he grabbed it, and despite the shock, used it to spin Zaira into a nearby wall.

"Zaira!" Kylie cried out.

"Now for you pesky-pixies!" Etemon growled.

"RAINBOW-FLASH!" Kylie called out.

She held her hand up into the air, and a blazing blast of light shot out of her hand.

"Ahhh! Too Bright!" Etemon cried out only to scoff. "NOT! Why do you think I have these sunglasses? Come on, try and attack me whenever you want!"

The moment he said that the electric wall behind him broke down on him, causing him to be electrocuted. Imagine the girls, Izzy and the other Digimon's happy surprise to see that it was Birdramon with Tai and Sora!

"Tai!" yelled Greymon.

"Sora!" Izzy cried out.

"You're safe!" Kylie said in relief.

"Sorry for worrying you!" Sora apologized.

"Let's get out of here, guys!" Tai waved.

They hurried out of the pyramid with the others arriving to greet them.  
"It's Tai! And Sora!"

Behind those escaping the pyramid, the fumes of the explosion looked as if they were being sucked in by a ventilation fan because they were being pulled into the pyramid. The inner side began to cave inwards. Paralyzed with horror as they stood in the desert, Matt and the others watched in confusion as the pyramid disintegrated from within.

But Izzy quickly understood that now was not the time for questions and said, "For the time being, let's get as far away from here as we can, before we end up getting dragged in as well. I'm… not sure how far we should run to be considered safe, but…"

None of the others understood what he meant, but Beth's voice and expression were so full of conviction that they all obeyed him immediately. "Whatever it is, we better get as far away from it as we can!"

_

While the heroes began to make their escape, Etemon got up and shook off the electrocution he'd gone through. Then walked in to see Datamon with a blank-eyed copy of Sora.

"My, my. Playing with dolls in a place like this?" Etemon sneered.

Datamon, now that the crest and digivice had been take back to their owner, he had no use for the copy, so he deleted it.

"Nope. The children, Sirene's baby girl and their pixie friends got away from me again, but I'll get to kill you here. Give yourself up, Datamon."

Datamon said nothing. But abruptly the floor began to slide away, causing Etemon to yelp and make a jump to the console, except Datamon allowed himself to fall and grab ah old of Etemon's left ankle. This left the monkey hanging on for dear life.

"I'm taking you with me, Etemon!"

"Lemme go! I don't want to die with you in that thing!"

"Plug Bomb!" Datamon shot his attack into a mesh of dark wires below them.

"Where are you aiming? Still got a few screwed up wires in you, don't you?"

"You're greatly mistaken if you think that was just a program. I sent a computer virus so that the dark powers would increase!"

"But then…"

In effect, every other digimon from Etemon's forces that was defeated was now being pulled back into the mass of wires and deleted upon contact, increasing its growth.

"This is your end!" Datamon thundered darkly.

Eventually Etemon lost his grip, he fell with a terrified bellow. Datamon perished instantly on contact with the dark wires, but the moment Etemon's body touched it, the wires started attaching themselves to him.

"This is nightmare!"

_

None of the guardians nor the children dared to look back just yet. If they did, they feared they just might die because of it. Once they got sucked into that black hole, they were done for. Many of Etemon's grunts were being dragged back towards the pyramid by some unknown force and I didn't bode well.

"Look at the pyramid!" T.K. shouted getting everyone's attention.

Black and green light burst through the pyramid causing it to crumble and fall apart. After a few seconds, the crunching sounds of the pyramid breaking down stopped completely. It must not have been big enough to fill the black hole's bottomless stomach.

To add more shock a familiar voice hollered out to them. "I won't be defeated from the likes of this!"

"No way!"

"Is that Etemon?!"

It was the mad monkey alright, except it looked like his upper body had merged with a gigantic mass of cable, bulging muscles and all.

"Datamon died on his own, come at me or surrender, whichever you please. The end will be the same either way — you're all going to die here!"

"If surrendering leads to the same result, then we're just gotta fight!" Beth shouted back.

She, Dana, Birdramon and Kabuterimon launched their attacks at the ball of wires to no avail.

"Not bad for a massage!" Etemon taunted. "Let me pay you back. Dark Spirits!"

The four flew out of the way to avoid being hit and for good reason. When the attack hit both a ridge and the sphinx, they turn warped into some kind of small swirling black hole.

"How did that just happen?!" wailed Beth.

"If he keeps this up, the whole world will become a mess!" Sora cried.

"But there's no way we can win against him!" Joe yelped.

From under his shirt, Tai's crest glower orange. "No. There's still one way left." He said calmly. "Let's go, Greymon!"

"Okay, Tai!" The two of them charged forward.

Etemon laughed. "You still want to fight?"

"I won't run away! I never will!" Tai yelled back holding up his crest.

Theo flew after him, "I'm going in, too! We're not dead yet!"

Beth attempted to do the same only to be held back by the other girls. That was when the group noticed Tai's crest was glowing as was his digivice.

"I'm telling you, it's hopeless! Dark Spirits!" He threw two balls of energy that crashed into our two Digimon and sent them to the ground.

"Don't ever give up, Greymon!" Tai cried and addressed Theo, "You too Theo, I know you've got my back too!"

"I can feel Tai's courage surging through my body!" Greymon said as he stood up.

Tai speechlessly looked at his crest and digivice which were glowing brightly before the three of them.

"I can feel something too!" Theo said, forcing herself to stand up.

What happened next was astonishing. Tai's digivice turned a fiery orange before shooting a beam of light through the crest causing the light to shine down on Greymon.

"Greymon, super-evolve to… METALGREYMON!"

Metalgreymon looked very similar to Greymon, only with half of hiss body transformed into machine. The giant wings on his back spread out into a horizontal plane.

Similarly, the digivice light shone on Theo causing her to levitate on her own. A flash of red, orange and yellow sparks swept up from her the tip of her feet to her head until she'd accomplished an entirely new set of clothes and wings.

A magenta body suit, sea green sash. See-through sleeves and gold bangles, vermilion wings covered in gold circuitry patterns found also on the legs of Theo's new outfit.

"I—Is that… Greymon's true evolution?" Tai gaped.

"Wow, we did it!" Theo crowed.

"A got a whole new fairy form and evolution!" Beth gasped. "This'll even the odds!"

"Don't think you can win against me just because you two digivolved a little further…!" Etemon boasted before tossing two more dark spirits.

MetalGreymon sliced sliced threw one with his metal claw, while Theo crossed her two fists against her fists before before spreading them out as it hit causing it to dissipate much to Etemon's shock.

"You blocked my power?!"

Both Digimon and newly changed fairy charged forward ramming the wire ball and sending Etemon back.

"Giga Destroyer!" from the hatch on his chest MetalGreymon fired organic missiles.

"Fire child's fury!" Theo thrust her palms forwards billowing out a surge of hot flames.

The attacks hit, creating a blindingly huge explosion.

"I-It hit?! I can't die here…! I'm a big star! I don't wanna disappear…!" Etemon hollered.

He was blown away, getting sucked in along with the blast into the distortions of the black hole.  
But it also backfired. The energy of the missile's explosion increased the black hole's appetite, automatically swelling the ball of distortions so that it surrounded MetalGreymon completely.

No one could say anything. They were afraid to say it. If they said it out loud, it would mean that they had to accept it.  
And they didn't want to accept it. They wanted to believe that it was a trick of the eyes. As if the hunger of the black hole was satisfied from the last prey that it had swallowed, it shrunk rapidly and disappeared. But nowhere against the returning calmness of the blue sky could they see Tai, Theo nor MetalGreymon anywhere…

_

The three of them fell down and down inside the black hole. They couldn't see anything below them at all, so it was scary not knowing how they'd fall. And then all of a sudden, they came out into a bright place.

It was at that moment that Koromon, despite having been MetalGreymon before he was engulfed into the black hole, found out that he had returned at some point back to Koromon.

They were standing in a garden blooming with radiant flowers, while all around them were surrounded by multiple tall buildings and an unbelievably large wheel to their left. And all around them were people, human people.

Koromon's eyes were wide and his mouth was open with disbelief.

"Whoa…" Theo mumbled.

"This is… home…" Tai croaked, scarcely daring to believe it.

**_To be continued…_**


	13. Clash in Tokyo and whispering wickedness

Sometimes we get so attached to things that it becomes hard to move on. Such as old cars, romantic relationships and childhood places. Or in this case, familiar environments.

As of this moment, Tai, Koromon and Theo found themselves in a park full of people going about their business. And not just any park, one close to Odaiba.

"Are you seeing this?" Theo whispered.

"Unbelievable, did we just return to our world? Does this mean that we won?" Tai mumbled. "Is this a dream?"

Theo slowly shook her head. "I don't think so."

Koromon looked to Tai only to get hit with ball a little girl had tossed. Tai turned his attention to her. "Where are we? Japan? Or are we still in the Digimon world?"

"Where's Etemon? And the others?!" demanded Koromon.

The little girl looked confused.

"Hey, answer me! Please!" Tai shouted.

However the little girl started to cry and ran off.

"Tai, you shouldn't make her cry like that!"

"No, you idiot! She's crying because she saw you!"

"Me!?"

Theo smacked the back of Tai's head. "Don't be a moron, it's BOTH your fault!"

People were already starting to stare and that wasn't a good sign. Tai covered Koromon's mouth then he and Theo ran out of the park toward the Odaiba Seaside Park Station.

"Works for me." Theo shrugged.

Tai looked over the sign. "Odaiba…Just as I suspected. We're near my place!"

"Your place?" Koromon questioned.

"We're back in Japan! We're back!" Tai happily hugged Koromon a little too tightly. "It must be because we got sucked into that rift. That's got to be the reason!"

After that, Theo gladly walked Tai and Koromon headed to Tai's family apartment. At this point, Tai warned Koromon not to speak no matter who they met.

The boy paused when her hand had closed on the doorknob. "How much time HAD gone by since we went to the Digiworld? Months? Or maybe years went by that my parents moved on without me and an absolute stranger's going to answer."

"There's only one way to find out." Theo said to him, "You open that door and look inside."

"I'm home." Tai called but he was using his indoor voice.

"Anything look different than how you last left it?" Theo asked.

"No." Tai answered, still staring.

Theo nodded firmly. "Then this where I can leave you, I gotta check on my Ma, too. So long."

"Bye…"

Not a minute after he got home, Tai raided the refrigerator for a soda and after much prodding from Koromon, let him drink some. Except he still wondering about the date and the timeline. That was when Tai glanced at calendar on the fridge door… and looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

Later on, he checked the date of the newspaper and on TV, but that day was the day that Tai had left for camp — On August 1st, 1999.

He recalls they spent a really long time traveling through File Island and Server Continent, but on Earth, only a half an hour had passed. They'd vanished from Earth at midday.

Tai's little sister, Kari, was still at home recovering from her cold, too. Their parents were out, so Kari was sleeping on the bottom bunk bed.

Kari looked at her brother, surprise written all over her face. Tai's heart thumped at her expression, but seemed relieved upon hearing her words. "Brother… Shouldn't you be at camp?"

There was something else even more surprising.

Kari looked at Koromon without the faintest trace of astonishment. Instead she had greeted him calmly with, "Hi, Koromon"…even though they had only just met and Tai hadn't told her his name yet.

He was also interested because she had whispered the word 'Digimon' while watching TV, before he had left for camp. Kari had then asked Tai if he remembered too. But when Tai replied that he didn't, she said, "Then you wouldn't understand if I told you,".

Tai had asked where their parents were, Kari replied that they'd gone to visit their grandmother. When asked what he was doing here Tai answered that he'd come to check on her comparing her temperature to his by feeling their foreheads, his left hand on hers and his right hand on his own.

"Brother, don't lie and tell me where you truly went."

Tai paused.

"You went to the world where this Koromon lived didn't you?" Kari asked softly, her voice full of hope.

"I er…"

"I thought so. I knew you didn't actually go to camp with the others."

"That's right. It's possible Matt and everyone else are back." mused Tai.

However when he tried calling the homes of Matt, Sora, and Izzy, he received the exact same answer: They were away at camp.

_

It only took Theo a ten minute walk to her home, the fact that none of the neighbors seemed to notice her, should've been the first warning sign.

She checks the apartment she shared with her foster mother, but no one was home. Guess she was out for the time being. And from the looks of it, much like Tai's home, nothing much has changed.

Huh. That's weird. She thought, as she got herself a snack. All of her stuff from her final year abroad was still in the guest room. Just like the day she'd left for camp…

Oh well.

Theo leaned back on her bed, dozed off and receives an illuminating dream.

_

_It was a beach day, she's chilling out relaxing, enjoying volleyball with just the girls and some major hotties…_

_So why is Sara Goodman floating there looking at her like she'd just cheated on the latest algebra test?_

_"There you are! You had us worried sick!" The pinkhaired studious girl yelled at the laidback one. "Where have you and the other five been for the last hour? And what about those seven kids that were with you?!"_

_Theo put up her hands casually, "Sara, relax! They all returned home like me and Tai."_

_"No, they didn't! The portal opened up, and sucked you all leaving me, Haruna and Yui screaming for you to come back. When you don't return for one whole hour, I resort to astral projection and find you chilling out in your apartment!"_

_"One whole hour?" Theo blinked in disbelief, "But we were gone for almost a month!"_

_"For almost a month? What are you talking about? But we're still stuck in camp without you guys! Now wake up!"_

_

Theo woke up with a startled shout, and grew more alarmed when the TV turned on by itself to a newscast.

"This is the afternoon new for August 1st. Our main story is the irregular weather we've been having as of late. In South-East Asia, the paddy fields have dried up from drought. This has become a major problem for its inhabitants."

Theo meant to turn off the TV but something she saw on the screen caused her stop just as she picked up the remote.

Right there kneeling in the middle of the dried up fields was the reddish figure of Meramon!

"Heavy rains are savagely flooding the Middle East."

Which were caused by a Seadramon.

"In North America, Snow is falling even though it is the middle of summer."

And on top of one building was a Frigimon. Theo's hands slowly unfurled, dropping the remote on the coffee table. But why aren't the international magical ministries in an uproar yet?

"Wait, then that means…!"

Quick as lightning she put her sneakers back on and ran to the Kamiya apartment building as fast as she could.

"Tai!"

_

Meanwhile Tai had seen the news too, and a rather confusing message from Izzy – with distorted feedback from Zaira's frantic voice calling out to him.

Despite his concerns, he preferred not worry and instead enjoy having returned home. When he overheard his mother's voice on the phone, he felt even more determined not to let it get to him again.

"Hey, Koromon… You can stay here forever."

"Tai…" Koromon sounded concerned.

"As long as you stay here, you don't have to fight. You guys can eat food and candy whenever you want. You can sleep in a soft bed every night, and you can take a bath every day. Mom might get angry sometimes, but whatever happens, she'll protect us. Even Dad…" Tai's voice was strained, "It's summer! We're on summer vacation right now! We haven't gone to the ocean yet, and there's still the festivals… I have to do my homework too!" He looked down at his digivice, "It's this thing's fault that I went to the other world. Who cares if it's a holy device or whatever! It's useless…!" He held it up ready to smash it to the ground…

But it seems Fate had other plans in mind. There was a howling wind yet no breeze but it was enough to catch the three off guard.

"INFIDEL!" A female voice roared.

Kari and Koromon remained where they were, their eyes darting around looking for where the voice had come from. Tai gripped the digivice tightly. Behind him, the mirror turned all black before a pair of glowing purple eyes opened.

"Young Taichi Kamiya... you are hereby cursed by the deepest depths of the oceans for your transgression!"

The boy stumbled backwards the moment he looked behind him. "Aah! What!"

Abruptly the dark image flickered as a woman's voice chuckled. "No, I'm actually just merely teasing you, junior."

Nervously Tai opened his eyes to see what appeared in the mirror. Kari and Koromon blinked. Who was that?

The woman appeared human, but her feet were like a seagulls with a ringing anklet on the left ankle, her arms and hands were covered with black scales, webbed fingers, black curved talons in place of fingernails. She wore a shimmering, midnight blue dress, which seemed to wrap around her body, and a clear shawl draped over her left arm.

"Who are you?" Tai asked warily.

"A friend, an ally, a benefactor if you want to be informal," The woman's voice was like the tide, soft, soothing on the ears. "I have many names, and my birth name I tell no one. But you may call me, Vanessa. I am the Dark Spectre queen Of the Ocean and Infinite realities, Ruler of the Eastern Depths, Most Merciful and Stern, Demigoddess of the Lost and really just a super powerful sea witch."

"Wow, and I thought meeting the guardians would be the limit of magic I'd see," Tai exclaimed.

"Oh no, magic is all around you, you cannot leave the magic. It finds its way to you even as we speak," Vanessa explains, and with her black scaly hand, she caressed a large, red ruby, encased in a golden frame that hung from her neck. It glowed bright red. "But getting back to an important subject: your job or rather duties are not done yet, anymore than that of your guardian friends."

"What?" Tai was in disbelief.

"I'm afraid a certain SOMEONE is causing trouble here," Vanessa said. "And due to that, she is causing cracks to open...cracks to summon digimon to this world."

"Who? Who is this person?" Tai asked.

"Like me, she possesses many names," Vanessa explained. "But she is known solely as Sierra D'spayre, or Lady Despair. The Queen of Darkness."

Tai gasped.

"Oh wow, that doesn't sound good." Koromon said in concern.

"Who is this 'Lady Despair?'" Kari asked.

"Lady Despair is a creature from another plane of existence, she is incredibly powerful and Dangerous. When she enters a world, she brings darkness, madness and destruction!" Vanessa waves her black, scaled hands imposingly. "Lady Despair has conquered many worlds, many countless places. And she seeks Earth, but she needs forces to help her conquer Earth, due to a ward around this dimension. She can't bring her forces through to aid her in conquering. She has only herself, and her magic."

Vanessa looks at Tai's Digivice. "In fact, I believe you've already encountered at least two of Sierra's 'children' in the digital world," Vanessa said worried.

"Children?" Tai asked. "Wait...she has kids?"

"In a sense. She rains her black blood and sends it into the digital world and creates Digimon, evil digimon with power beyond your comprehension." Vanessa said. "Devimon, Etemon, and others...she uses them to corrupt that world. And soon, she will bring ALL the digimon THERE, here. For Lady Despair can't use her magic while in the digital world, Sirene's presence is still too strongly felt there, even long after her death."

"Her black blood..." Tai gaped

He flashbacked to a vial of black blood appearing, and shattering on the ground with Kylie and the guardians purifying it.

"So, she's the cause...of Devimon...and Etemon too?" Tai asked.

"She must be that 'Mad Artist' he mentioned..." Koromon said.

"But just how am I supposed to get back?!" Tai looked the Dark Spectre Queen desperately. "I don't suppose you can just snap your fingers once the send me and Koromon to the Digiwold?"

"If I do that, I can't help you anymore," Vanessa warned. "Like Sierra, I cannot enter that world, and worse, Etemon wasn't the last of her creations..."

A tremor caught their attention. Tai ran out to the patio to see Tyranomon emerge from the bay and launch a fireball onto the rainbow bridge.

"Wait!" Kari cried. Behind her, Vanessa watched stoically.

"Kari… You stay here!" Tai ordered as he picked up Koromon and rushed out.

_

Theo could see the Tyrannomon even from near the waterfront, so intently that she'd crashed right into the very person she had to warn.

"Ouch! Tai!" Theo yelped then tried to explain. "Digimon on news – the girls – not back!"

"I know! You see it too?!"

They both turned to look at Tyrannomon only to see it fade as though it were fog.

"He disappeared…!" Tai gasped.

There was another rumble. This time it was a Drimogemon but much like before the moment they got too close, he vanished. What as going on?

"We interrupt this program to bring you information on the earthquake here in Hodo Center." That was what they heard on the brief newscast in the electronic appliance store. "The epicenter was in Odaiba, from the Minato district…"

"But that was no earthquake. Maybe it is a good thing the mortals can't see the Digimon… otherwise, how is logic and science going to explain that mess?!" Theo shook her head.

"Tai?" Koromon piped up. "I want to go back to where everyone else is." He then hopped out of Tai's arm, "Digimon can't enter in this world. I'm a Digimon too, so I can't stay here."

"How can you say that?! Don't go back please!"

"Hey, it's the little guy's choice not yours!" Theo said scornfully.

"They aren't completely here, that's why the mortals can't see them," Vanessa said, causing Tai and Theo to nearly jump out of their skin with surprise. "Lady Despair is incredibly powerful, but even she has trouble bringing creatures from the digital world here to Earth. But she's patient, even if she can only bring 5 over each day, she does it to build her army. 20 long years of planning will soon come to fruition."

"Onii-chan!" Kari was running to Tai, still dressed in her pajamas.

"Who's this?" Theo questioned.

"I thought I told you to stay home!" Tai scolded.

"But…!"

Koromon got their attention. Across the street from them was an all green Ogremon but the eyes were blank, soul-less looking. However, Koromon is unable because Tai's Digivice isn't responding. Kari and Tai's determination eventually activates the Digivice, allowing Koromon to Digivolve.

The digievolution triggered something. A giant hole of bright light opened up in the sky and began slowly pulling up debris like a tractor beam.

Agumon landed on a spotlight and shot his attack at the Ogremon sending it through the opening.

However it was affecting Agumon too.

"Tai… Kari… Theo… Good-bye." He said as he vanished.

Tai and Theo made up their minds in one split second.

"Wait, we're coming too!" Tai called only to feel his hand held back by Kari.

"I wish there was more I could do," Vanessa sighed. "But you must bring your friends, and everyone to this human world. But even then, you might not still be safe."

Tai looked at Kari in worry, and Vanessa placed a scaled hand on her head gently.

"Don't fear, I've placed a spell of enormous strength on this one," Vanessa laughed gently. "So that no dark forces will be able to find her, unless she's right in front of their faces."

"So, you'll protect her...until I get back?" Tai asked.

"On the River Styx that borders the living world, and the underworld, I swear to protect your sister until you've returned." Vanessa promised.

"I understand now. I- we all have to see this through." Tai said softly, feeling the digivice lifting him into the air. "I hope you get better soon..."

"Onii-chan…" Kari was still holding on to his hand.

Theo quickly transformed to her primary mode – just enough to gain flight momentum. "And I'm gonna make sure he gets back."

The higher they rose, Tai and Theo's bodies gradually grew fainter.

Vanessa waved good bye to them, before both the eleven year old boy and the teenage fairy were pulled upwards into the portal leading back to the Digiworld.

For the moment, Kari was alone again. But in the very near future, she will have a chance to visit that magical world.

Even though it's scary to leave behind the past to take responsibility, being able to do so is true test of strength.

_

After Theo, Tai and MetalGreymon had disappeared, sometime had passed. For two straight weeks, they had searched the desert for clues with no success despite Sora's insistence. Izzy suggested they go looking for Gennnai, none of them knew where to look for him either.

One evening while everyone was fast asleep, Tokomon awoke to Sora and Piyomon sneaking off to look for Tai on their own. Little did they know, was that Kylie had started following them.

It became difficult after they left. One by one, the group had split up in the desert, until only Matt and T. left. They'd headed for the West, reaching Temp Lake which was by an abandoned but functional amusement park. The amusement park must have been full of vivid colors long ago, but as if those colors had been eroded by the monotonous forest green that surrounded it, bits of paint had come off from it here and there, while other parts of it were rusted due to the dampness of the lake.

The delicate water surface with barely much humidity around it reflected the blue sky, the whiteness of the clouds, the green trees, and even the hard rays of the sun with brilliance. It had a beauty to it, but on the other hand it also appeared somewhat cold and distant.

Matt decided to ride a swan shaped boat around the nearby lake. He said he'd only be gone a few hours, but then weeks later he was still nowhere to be found, leaving T.K. and Tokomon all alone in the amusement park

T.K. stood at the very end of the wharf where the swanboat was once tied into place. He looked at the ripples his rock had made without really seeing them.

"Why won't my Onii-chan come back? He promised!" T.K. questioned before he began to cry.

"T.K.!" Tokomon said worried as he came back with some berries.

"Onii-chan… Onii-chan said he was just going to take a look around… He said he'd be back soon!" The little boy broke down on his knees to cry in his arms.

"Don't cry, T.K.!"

"What's going on over here?" A bat like creature flew up to the duo. "Pleasure to meetcha, name's Devimon."

"DemiDevimon?" Tokomon had innocently questioned.

"Don't tell me you were the ones who got rid of Etemon?"

"Yeah." T.K. stood up to face him.

"Thank you! Peace has returned to this world because of you! But why were you crying?"

"My brother won't come back." T.K. explained.

"Why, that's quite a fix! Very well, I'll go look for him! What's your brother's name?"

"My brother's named Matt."

"Okay. Wait right here!" So the bat flew right right across the lake.

"I hope he finds him." said Tokomon.

"Yeah." T.K. nodded.

A few hours later, the small bat-like Digimon returned. "Sorry to keep you waiting!"

"Where's my brother?" T.K. asked. "Did you find him?"

DemiDevimon gave him a pitying look. "Yeah, I found him. I have a message from Matt."

"What is it?"

"Matt said that he never wants to see you again. He said he really, really, really hates you and doesn't want to be your brother anymore."

"You're lying!"

DemiDevimon looked back at Tokomon, cool and unruffled. As if to deliver the final blow, he added. "So I asked him 'Why?' and Matt said, 'Because he's such a crybaby.'"

As if a fire had been lit, T.K. began to wail. He was so shocked by what he'd heard that he even forgot to bring his hands up against his eyes. Standing there and raising his head up to the sky and wailed until he ran out of tears.

This is his fault, Tokomon thought. I don't know why he's doing it, but DemiDevimon is lying.  
Naurally, when Tokomon had failed to talk to T.K., the Digimon had gone to confront Demidevimon, who merely taunted him. Frustrated, Tokomon shot him with a bubble.

"What do you think you're doing, Tokomon?!" T.K. yelled angrily. "Apologize to Demidevimon!"

"No," Tokomon said flatly, turning his head.

Flapping his wings, Demidevimon cut in between the glaring pair. "T.K., don't blame Tokomon. I'm sure he's just feeling jealous about how you and I get along so well together."

"No!"

He hugged Demidevimon safely towards him. "I didn't know you were such a violent Digimon!" he said with strong disapproval in his voice.

"Don't make excuses!"

Tokomon tried to make himself heard, but T.K. seemed to think that he was just being stubborn because he gave him a menacing glare. That vicious tone made Tokomon close his mouth for an instant.

"No. I see what sort of person you are now."

But even he seemed to think that was a harsh thing to do, because he changed direction and tossed his Digivice with an underhanded throw towards the muddy shore instead. In a panic, Tokomon ran to pick it up. The Digivice had landed face-up, its bottom half buried in the mud. T.K. wouldn't even look at him. And turning to his right, he said to his new partner DemiDevimon, "Let's go."

Looking joyful, DemiDevimon settled on top of T.K.'s green hat. The very seat that had once been reserved only for Tokomon.

Carrying the Digivice in his mouth, Tokomon wandered aimlessly, trudging along the lake shore. Maybe none of it would have happened if he had apologized to DemiDevimon back then, even if he didn't mean it. But he hadn't been able to do that.  
But where did Matt and Gabumon, go off to?  
The inside of his head was blank from fever and his vision was blurry. Yesterday he'd kept walking even though he had been drenched by rain. He was only dimly aware of his condition. Was he awake now, or dreaming?  
That was when it happened. It was a familiar voice.

"It's Tokomon!"

Tokomon's eyes blinked open. "Tai… Agumon! Theo! You're alive!"

"Of course we are. You're stuck with us for life!" Theo said playfully.

"Did you get beaten by the enemy, Tokomon?" Agumon asked.

"No, I wasn't. I collapsed because I was just so hungry and tired." The little white digimon hopped out of Tai's arms.

"Where's T.K.? And the others?" Tai questioned.

Tokomon glanced away briefly, "T.K. is with DemiDevimon."

"DemiDevimon? Who's that?" asked Theo.

"DemiDevimon is… um…"

"Uh, hey, do you mind telling us what's happened from the top? We have no idea what happened…"

At the moment, DemiDevimon's plan was going perfectly. The one bearing the Crest of Love was doubting her own love and wandering alone, while the child bearing the Crest of Friendship was losing his sense of friendship. The child bearing the Crest of Purity didn't even need DemiDevimon's help to sink into selfishness and malice. Better yet, with the guardians split up, there was no chance of them doing much to help.  
DemiDevimon knew that it was T.K. and his Digimon who had beaten Devimon. This was only DemiDevimon's personal opinion but — Hope was the most dangerous of all. It had the strange power of turning the tables on you and gaining victory at the very last moment. That was how Devimon had been beaten. That was why he had to make T.K. lose hope completely.  
He was going to make T.K. eat the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness. As their name implied, once someone ate these mushrooms, all of their memories were wiped blank. If T.K. ate that, Tokomon would be completely erased from his memory.  
The basket next to DemiDevimon was filled to the top with Mushrooms of Forgetfulness that he had just picked earlier. Grabbing the basket handles with both feet, DemiDevimon flew out of the bushes.

He loved lying, so it wasn't at all hard to do. With this fake smile, he was going to strip T.K. of every drop of hope that he possessed.  
Who was that boy? And that older girl with him? He'd never seen them before. Could the boy with the Crest of Courage and the Fire Guardian, who'd been sucked into the black hole with Etemon, have returned?

They tried interrogating him, of course which Demidevimon twisted around and avoided by offering the mushrooms.

"Food?" Tai unconsciously brought a hand up to his stomach. "Now that you mention it, we are hungry."

Theo shrugged. "Sure, we'll have some."

He placed the basket stuffed with Mushrooms of Forgetfulness on the ground.

"Why yes, of course. They don't appear that good by appearance, but don't let that fool you. They melt in your mouth and are as fluffy as cake."

"But still, eating them raw… Do you have something we can roast them on?"

In response to the suggestion, DemiDevimon flew to the ruins of the oden vendor stand underneath the Ferris wheel. When he returned with the charcoal stove, a small handful of charcoal, a fan to keep the flames alive (Theo provided the fire), and bamboo skewers, Agumon was nowhere to be seen.

"To the bathroom," Tai answered.

"I see. Then let's get cooking in the meantime."

As Tai gently wafted the live pieces of charcoal with the fan, the sweet smell of the mushrooms enticed T.K.'s already growling stomach even further, making T.K.'s eyes gleam. "Yay!" T.K. said happily, getting ready to take a big bite. Just then, his eyes met Tokomon's. Tokomon looked as if he wanted to say something, but T.K. ignored him and said, "Time to eat!"

Except he burned himself a little.

"That's what you get for biting into it without cooling it first," Tai said, laughing at T.K.'s eagerness. He blew on a different mushroom and gave it to the little boy.

Just then, Agumon was running towards them, looking frantic. "No, no, no! Those mushrooms are dangerous!"

He just stopped them from consuming the mushrooms fully in the nick of time then challenged the bat digimon to eat one. When he refused.

"If you won't eat it, what more proof do we need?" Agumon demanded.

Tears fell like drops from T.K.'s eyes. Turning to Tokomon next to him, he cried as he apologized. "I'm so sorry, Tokomon."

Seeing them, Tai said, "Here," and took out T.K.'s Digivice from his pocket, handing it to the boy.

"Don't throw it away again." Theo gently instructed.

Tch. What an annoying bunch of brats. But at the same time, Demidevimon was only up against one Baby levels and a child level. Anticipating that there was no way he could lose this one, he attacked.

"Look out, T.K.!"

"Tokomon!" T.K. screamed. The gauge of the Digivice in the little boy's hand shot up.

It was the first time he'd evolved into his Child self, after his deadlock against Devimon on File Island.  
A ball of air shot out like a bullet from Patamon's mouth, hitting DemiDevimon full in the face. A continuous chain of Air Shots followed, so much that DemiDevimon immediately chose to flee. He couldn't even leave behind any parting threats.

_

But how did that lousy Agumon know about the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness anyway?

"I was so close! Next time I see them, I'm gonna..!" Demidevimon grumbled only to wince.

On the bank where he ended up, the sky turned a foreboding red, with an entire colony of bats converging to form a cloaked silhouette. Inmediately he kowtowed. "Forgive me, the Crest of Hope has regained its light!"

_

It was sunset, Tai and Theo were explaining to T.K. everything that had happened since their disappearance.

Agumon peered into the woods warily.

"Hey," he said, "I think there's something in the trees."

Tai followed his Digimon's gaze into the forest and saw someone approaching out at the edge of the tree line.

T.K. and Patamon paused uncertainly, was it foe or friend?

On high alert, Theo and Agumon stepped closer to the forest's edge, ready to fight if it turned out to be dangerous. Then the person stumbled right into the evening sunlight.

A familiar teenager, looking exhausted and bedraggled, stumbled onto the river bank. Her long sunflower hair was tied into a single braid, and her white bohemian tie-dye shirt was soiled and torn.

"It's Kylie!" gasped T.K. "But where'd she come from?"

"Oh…" the bookish blonde moaned, and then she fainted.

Tai and Theo rushed forward, catching her when she fell. They gently laid the fairy on the grass and checked her pulse.

Utterly, bewildered and somewhat relieved to see her alive, the boys and their digimon knelt beside the unconscious fairy, trying to figure out how she had gotten in such a vulnerable state.

"But where was she?" Tai wondered aloud. "What could have happened to her?"

**_To be continued…_**


	14. Friendship and Knowledge shines through

A loud crashing of dishes could be heard coming from inside the kitchen.

"Not again…"

Getting to his feet laboriously, as if it was a chore, Matt stuck his harmonica into the back pocket of his jeans and began walking at a snail's pace to the kitchen door. When they had left T.K. and Tokomon, Matt had promised that they would be back immediately. But by being unable to leave here, it only made sense that he would be running out of patience. In fact, it was pretty admirable how he did not show this attitude openly whenever Joe was around. Even so, who knew how long that would last…? Even Gabumon could tell that with each passing day, Matt's heart grew harder and bitter.

It was several weeks ago when Gabumon and Matt arrived at this restaurant. Leaving T.K. and Tokomon at the amusement park, they took a swan boat to check that their surroundings were safe. While keeping the coast on their left, they peddled on and on until, just when they were thinking about heading back, they spotted a building shaped like a 'diner' atop a hill facing the lake.

Landing their swan boat on the beach, the two of them cautiously made their way up the gentle slope as they kept watch for enemies.  
They spotted a familiar face being tossed out to bring in more customers… Gomamon.

Gomamon's mouth dropped open when he spotted them. He blinked rapidly as if he thought he was daydreaming, but when Gabumon reached out and shook his hand, he realized that it wasn't a dream and flew at Gabumon with tears streaming down his face. They stood there, letting Gomamon cling tightly to Gabumon as he sobbed explaining what he, Joe, Dana and Beth had gone through.

"We kept looking for Sora and Kylie, but we couldn't find them. We ran into this bat guy that rubbed me the wrong way but when he said he knew where to ind more humans Joe was all up for it. Except we lost sight of him halfway, we tried to go back the way we came but got lost. Then we came upon this restaurant, we went in wanting to eat something because we were so hungry. The food was okay. Then, when we went up to pay, Joe held out these pieces of paper. He said they were currency but the owner of the restaurant, Digitamamon, said that we couldn't use those and we'd have to work here to pay back what we ate. So we did that, since we didn't have any other choice. But the food that Joe cooked tasted so bad that we started losing customers and then we had to reimburse for that too. Also, for broken dishes. At first we only had to work for three days but then it kept getting extended and now we've been working for almost two weeks…Beth and Dana started baking cupcakes and it helps but…"

"Well, Joe is a pretty clumsy guy. It was wrong of him in the first place to think that he could use money from our world here. Hey, Gomamon, take me to that Digitamamon so I can talk to him. I'll see if we can come to some kind of agreement."

In doing so, they found that it would take four days, and so Matt made a deal with Digitamamon that if he and Gabumon worked as well, he would cut it down to two days. Of course, it was already established that if dishes or cups were broken by accident, it would be docked off their pay, so in these circumstances they made an agreement in advance on how much a single dish or a single cup would cost. If they only knew the dark plan that had been brewing.

It grew dark. For their sleeping quarters, they had the boiler room. Beth and Dana took one section while Matt and Joe took up the other opposite corners of the room so that they each had a diagonal space to call their own. A wash line with dirty bed sheets hanging from it ran between them, acting as a room divider. They didn't come to any verbal agreement but neither pair ever crossed the sheets to enter into the other's domain.

Usually, Matt would collapse onto the bed the moment he entered the room and immediately pass out from the fatigue of working without pause from morning to night, but sleep eluded him tonight. He appeared to have something on his mind because he sat with his knees folded up, deep in thought.

* * *

The following day things had gotten heated. More dishes were broken, Joe claimed it wasn't his fault but Matt refused to believe him. Then as the girls and two digimon were cleaning up, the front doors opened to reveal Tai, Theo, T.K., Patamon, and Kylie.

Naturally Beth and Dana were delighted to see their missing friends alive and well, although they, much like Gabumon and Gomamon, were worried.

Joe felt terrible about making Matt go along with the mistakes that he made. Somehow, he felt a wall around Matt. An invisible wall, something that kept others at a distance. Joe had a feeling that it was put up unconsciously. Takeru was the only person that Matt actively tried to interact with, but from Joe's viewpoint, he was so awkward and unnatural about it that it was hard to believe that they were brothers.

But even so, Joe understood that Matt, from his point of view, must be so extremely worried about T.K. right now after leaving him in the amusement park.  
It had made Joe happy. So happy that it brought tears to his eyes. That's why — He had to do his best. For Matt's sake.  
He could tell that Matt was irritated. He expected to be cursed at or punched and he was ready to accept it, but the other boy never did any of that. He put up with it, and put up with it, again and again.

That was why Joe thought that if Matt never came back tonight, he was going to accept it. Matt shouldn't have to sacrifice himself just for him.

Just at that moment, they heard footsteps approaching from outside. Several footsteps, in fact, on tiptoe.

"Um… Joe, Gomamon? I have something to tell you, but I want you to do your best not to be surprised, okay?"

"I mean, I don't want you to let out any noises of surprise, no matter what happens."

"Okay. Whatever you have to say, we won't be surprised," Joe answered.

Gabumon disappeared behind the door and Tai's head poked in.

"Tai! Theo! You're alive! I was worried about you!" He wanted to ask Tai then and there where he had disappeared to and what he had been doing, but Tai waved him off.

"Sorry, a lot of stuff happened."

Theo suggested. "We'll tell you the whole story later. We've gotta first get out of here."

"Hey, where's my brother? He's nearby, isn't he?" T.K. asked Joe.

Joe's face fell.

Gomamon was simply pleased to be reunited with their friends again, but Joe had mixed feelings. In that case, was it okay for him to run like this? He had to fulfill his responsibilities.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kylie had only partially explained to those who found her that she had gotten into a romantic problem with someone that wasn't what she thought he was and thus had to end up escaping to find them.

And of course, Theo took it upon herself to try and help her with said problem.

Kylie asked in confusion. "Why did you want talk over here again?"

Theo answered. "You need the practice, you just walk right over to the man and say: things just aren't working out. It's over."

Kylie looked taken aback. "I can't believe it! I'm getting this from you?! You're breaking up with me for him?!"

A group of Digimon gasp.

"You're dumping her for some random guy?"

"And switching teams?"

Oops. This pep talk just about backfired and sparked a misunderstanding from onlookers.

Kylie shook her head. "No. You don't understand–"

"Don't make excuses for her! The guy must be a nasty piece of work to come between you!"

"You've got it all wrong! Kylie and I were never–a–anything!" Theo threw up her hands defensively.

"Oh, so now you're denying your entire relationship?!"

Needless to say things had gotten somewhat out of hand, to the point the girls had to rush but back to see if Tai was having better luck talking to Joe and a resentful Matt. Matt says he wouldn't mind leaving, but he doesn't want to go anywhere with Joe, complaining again that Joe is doing everything wrong on purpose. When Tai tries to intervene Matt lashes out at him too, claiming he and Theo were the reason they all got separated.

"Don't tell me you're getting ready to run away." Digitamamon had just turned up.

"It'll give us trouble if you did that." Demidevimon sat on a branch above them.

The four guardians with the boys had arrived on the scene. Kylie visibly winced in alarm, "You!"

Tai, T.K. and the digimon looked at her. "You know him?!"

Demidevimon looked surprised to see Kylie, before grinning deviously. "Oh, so that's where you'd gotten to!"

"DemiDevimon is an evil Digimon who tried to trick T.K.!" explained Agumon.

Matt looked appalled. "It can't be!"

Beth then looked as though a light-bulb clicked on in her head. "Wait a minute…"

"Then, when you mentioned there were humans around…" Joe figured it out. "It was so we could get lost in the desert!"

Agumon fired an attack at Demidevimon as did Patamon, but he dodged them and started to fly off, which left Theo, Tai, Agumon and Patamon to chase after him.

It was an honest and straightforward appeal.

"Not a chance. You have to keep your promises," Digitamamon said in a muffled voice.

But when the same answer came back, Joe said, "Ugh!" and reluctantly jumped towards Digitamamon as if to shake him. Digitamamon brought a leg up to tread on Joe's back.

"So that's what's been happening!" Gomamon said, grinding his teeth in dismay. And, he evolved to Ikkakumon and leapt at Digitamamon. But because Joe was held hostage, he couldn't attack with his Harpoon Vulcan.

Having shared Gomamon's troubles throughout the ordeal, Gabumon could not stand back and watch. He evolved into Garurumon and went to help. The girls transformed as well. Digitamamon's weak spot, Garurumon reasoned, were the eyes peeking out from the crack in his shell. He lunged for them with his claws, but Digitamamon would close the crack before they reached and Garurumon's claws would hit against the tough shell instead. He ended up receiving damage rather than inflicting it. The same went when any of the guardians tried their spells.

Things get worse when T.K is captured by Vegiemon. Joe does his best to save him but then gets captured himself.

"We're not leaving you behind!" Tai cried, but Joe shook his head.

Turning to Matt, Joe said, "Thanks for everything. I'll never forget your help."

"S—Stop it. I…" Matt's pale lips trembled.

They were tears mixed with remorse for his actions to Joe, disgust at himself for his cold-heartedness, and gratitude of having found such an irreplaceable friend in Joe.

"I could wipe the floor with you five if I seriously wanted to." Digitamamon snapped to the two digimon and the fluttering guardians. The whole inside of his shell shot out and engulfed the both of them in a small ball before it exploded and sent them flying.

"He's too strong!" T.K. said worriedly. "It's no use! We can't win!"

"No, that's not true!" Matt hollered. "It will work out somehow! The feeling of believing in my friends! Friendship!"

There was a blinding flash of blue light and when it stopped, in Garurumon's place stood a man on two legs. At least, he looked like a long-legged man wearing blue jeans, except his head was the head of a wolf. A werewolf?

Landing lightly on the ground, WereGarurumon did not pause as he kicked at the ground again, charging at Digitamamon who was lying within the bushes unable to get back up. His sharp, pointed fingernails glinted in the moonlight like razors.  
His nails left rutted scratch marks on Digitamamon's shell. Digitamamon's egg shell cracked open in two. The pieces dropped to the ground, instantly falling away from something black with a vague shape inside Digitamamon's shell body. Giving a high-pitched, enraged shriek, it circled through the night sky like a balloon losing air and disappeared somewhere.

Then they confronted the Vegiemon to release Joe, it listened and ran off when confronted by two stronger digimon and four determined guardians.

"Joe, are you okay?" Matt called out to Joe.

"Thank goodness…"

The warmth that they felt as they grasped at the other's hand said more than words ever could. Now Tai, Theo and Kylie explained what happened during the separation and how they could locate the others with the digivice.

"So what you're saying is… If we don't do something about this world, our world will be affected too." Matt concluded.

"That pretty much sums it up." Theo nodded.

That was when they heard their digivices beeping. Both Tai and Matt checked theirs.

"It's a map of some kind," Tai said. "From what I can tell, these blinking dots you see here show the location of everyone else's Digivices."

Matt took another look at his screen. The three weakly blinking dots appeared to him as if they were calling for help.

In any case, they held a group discussion about using this new-found function to find the rest of their members.

"So I'll go with T.K.," Matt said.

As Tai had rightly guessed, T.K. wanted to apologize to Matt directly for even slightly doubting him and believing in DemiDevimon's lies back at the amusement park.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Theo offered.

"Me too." Dana agreed.

"You sure you can manage without me or Kylie?" Beth asked.

"I'm your little sister, give me a little credit!" Dana lightly punched Beth's arm.

Matt looked troubled, but since Joe standing beside him said kindly, "Let's do that," he gave an embarrassed nod of thanks.

"But what'll happen if we don't see each other afterwards?" Joe questioned.

"How's about we agree to meet at the bottom of that mountain, then?" Tai suggested.

They all agreed.

"Hey, will we really see each other again?" T.K. wondered.

"We will! Because we're friends!" Matt reassured him.

"You can count on it!" Beth cheered.

"Yeah! We'll definitely meet again!"

"You're right. After all, we're friends!" Joe nodded.

And so they split into two groups in search of their missing friends.

* * *

Izzy Izumi, along with his Digimon partner Tentomon and temporary chaperone, Zaira Baker, had been climbing the mountains in search of Gennai. But when there wasn't any development to be seen, one day he asked nonchalantly, "Isn't it about time you told me what's there to find on this mountain?" He spoke as if he wasn't the one who had suggested climbing this mountain in the first place.

Zaira pursed her lips and glanced away, "Nope, don't look at me. Only reason I tagged along was to keep you two out of trouble."

Tentomon panicked. "I wasn't the one who wanted to come up here!"

Izzy folded his arms, getting lost in thought for a moment. Then, pointing to the heavy clouds covering the top of the mountain, he said, "I feel that there is something up there. The feeling is rather vague, but I believe that the answers to why I was called to the Digital World and what the Digital World is can be found up there… In any case…Seeing this brings home to me just how small we truly are."

While the air was fresh on the mountain, it was also thin, so Izzy and Zaira's breathing naturally began to grow heavier as they ascended. Tentomon and the older girl kept suggesting that they climb back down, but Izzy just as stubbornly refused. His irresistible desire to see what lay hidden behind the clouds around the mountain peak was not unnoticed by Tentomon.

How many days had passed since they had first stepped onto this mountain?

"If I meet Mr. Gennai… I'm sure he'll tell me the secret behind this powerful Crest and explain other things."

"I've got a lot of questions of my own too." Zaira said flatly.

"You always want to know everything about everything, Izzy." Tentomon said. "That's what I like about you."

"Oh stop, you're embarrassing me." Izzy said sheepishly.

"I don't mean anything weird from it."

"I know. Even so, I wonder where Gennai is…" Izzy wondered then looked to Zaira, "Are you haven't had any… premonitions on his whereabouts?"

"Not since we got here." Zaira shook her head.

They soon find themselves surrounded by rather questionable signs. Well, Zaira thought they might be recently done by someone. Just then, the ground crumbled from underneath them, sending the trio into darkness.

Odd, they were falling none of them seemed to dropping that fast.

"Tentomon, can you fly?" Izzy cried. "And Zaira?"

"I can't!" Tentomon even opened them to try. "Look! It's making me fall even faster!"

"If I could just get a grip…!" Zaira grunted, flailing to get upright. "Aargh! I can't transform!"

"I wonder how far we'll be falling."

"I have no idea!" Tentomon whine.

"Until you reach the underworld." A voice called out from the dark.

"The underworld?" Izzy yelped as he, Tentomon and Zaira tried to pull themselves upwards. "I don't want to be there, not even as a joke!"

"Ditto!" Zaira yelled. "We're not dead yet!"

"Me either!" shouted Tentomon. "I don't want to go to Hell!"

Izzy grabbed Tentomon's shoulder only for them three of them to fall further downwards.

"Grab onto these." The voice spoke again.

Three were now floating upwards: Izzy on an inflatable pool duck, Tentomon a ship's lifesaver and Zaira on a pool noodle.

"All who possessed by an ambitious desire will fall into the underworld."

"Well, I don't think either of us possesses any sort of desire whatsoever." Izzy responded.

"You're wrong. Your ambition is the desire to know everything." The voice replied.

"Is it wrong to want to know things out of curiosity?"

"Your need to ask questions for the whys and wherefores are dragging you down."

"It's not true!" Izzy protested.

"See, you won't accept anything."

"It's that…"

"Your inquisitive mind keeps swelling and swelling!"

To Izzy's shock, the duck kept inflating before it burst, causing him to fall again.

"Izzy!" Zaira and Tentomon rushed to him. Izzy grabbed onto Tentomon's leg even as they both try to swim up.

"Do you want to fall into the Underworld?" The voice asked.

"Of course, I don't!" Izzy snapped.

"Me neither!" Tentomon added.

"Likewise!"

"Then throw away your inquisitive heart!" The voice said firmly.

"But I like Izzy's curious mind." Tentomon said uncertainly.

"But if we don't do something, the three of us will fall into Hell and no one will be able to save us!" Izzy said worriedly.

Zaira tried to make a suggestion. "Not if we make a deal with Had- Aaaugh!"

The lifesaver and inflatable noodle popped causing them to fall and for Izzy to yell out: "How do I throw it away?!"

"Meditate!" The voice informed.

"I won't investigate anymore! I don't want to… know…"

Before any of them could blink, the three found themselves in a starry floating field complete with replicas of planetary bodies. Izzy looked rather lost and his eyes were blank.

"Where are we?" Tentomon asked.

A thin fuchsia crescent moon appeared and the same voice called out: "In the Sacred Mysterious Universe."

"Who are you?" Zaira scowled.

The speaker was revealed to be an alien-like creature with an overdeveloped head and octopus-like lower body. "I am Vademon, the ruler of the Sacred Mysterious Universe." An amorphous bubble floated up. "This is the inquisitive heart that you threw away. It mustn't dirty the sanctity of the Sacred Mysterious Universe. I will dispose of it."

Attentively, Tentomon and Zaira watched it travel through the air where Vademon sucked it in with a vacuum gun before giving Izzy a book on 'A textbook on how to obtain Cosmic Power'.

"The basics of Cosmic Power lie in your breathing."

"Izzy, don't believe in that crazy stuff!" Tentomon wailed.

"I've seen a lot of things in my own life that me second-guess logic, and even I know what you got there is bogus!" Zaira states firmly.

"The correct way to breathe is to release alpha rays from your right chest…"

"Stop reading that!" Tentomon attempted to pull the book away but Izzy pushed him away. Then Izzy's digivice screen glowed yellow.

Tentomon pulled out Izzy's laptops and opened it to see…

"Tai!" Zaira yelled out.

"Ta-Tai, where are you right now?"

"At home! We're back on Earth! Koromon and Theo made with me too!" Tai answered.

Izzy barely reacted. "I see. Then that must mean… You're not coming back here. But please contact me once in awhile." And the power in his laptop died down soon after.

"It looks like Tai and Theo are having their share of troubles too." Tentomon speculated.

Izzy said nothing as he floated away and went back to reading. "With Cosmic Power, you will seek to gain tranquility in everything."

Zaira and Tentomon looked at each other with great concern. This may be a lot harder than they thought.

Eventually, Vademon cheerfully said that he would be glad to help Izzy gain peace of mind. First he made Izzy sit, in the Zen meditation posture, on top of a blue planet that looked similar to Earth, and spoke.

And so, Izzy dropped his "n"s. On the second day, Izzy dropped his "m"s. By the seventh day, Izzy had dropped his "t"s and "o"s. There was no mistake that Izzy's face grew more serene with each passing day. But his eyes… His eyes looked so blank. Nowhere in them could he find that bright sparkle they once had, like at Andromon's factory, when Izzy was typing into his laptop with engrossed excitement, or within the empty well in the desert.  
That's why it was all the more painful.

On the 31st day, Izzy had begun recounting the Roman alphabet and repositioning his body into the very letters he was reciting.

"This is just pathetic." Zaira grumbled. It was all she could do so that she and Tentomon could keep their wits about them.

Yet no matter how Tentomon urged her, she refused to use magic to get out of the situation.

At that moment Vademon reappeared again. "I forgot to tell you something. To obtain Cosmic Power, you must first throw everything away."

"Everything?"

"Throw away everything you have."

Izzy merely nodded. "Yes, sir." First he turned out his pockets that were full of scrap paper before taking of his crest. "I don't need this."

Vademon laughed as soon as he saw it.

"No way!" Zaira yelled.

"Not that!" Tentomon chased after the Crest.

"I'll be taking this." The alien smirked.

"Give back the Crest!"

"Be quiet!" Vademon pulled took out what looked like a toy gun with a parabolic antenna attached in the front and blasted Tentomon square in the chest. Izzy didn't even bat so much as an eye. "Continue with your training!"

"Yes, sir." Izzy returned to the letter training.

Tentomon's sadness made him degenerate into Motimon, then degenerate even further into Pabumon, a green jello ball with a pacifier in its mouth.

A disbelieving Zaira cradled Pabumon, stunned by Izzy's cold demeanor, and doing her best to comfort the poor baby digimon.

"Pabu-Pabu-Pabu..." Pabumon whimpered and cried.

Izzy growled angrily at the digimon and at the teenager, "What's the matter with you two?! I've told you not to bother me while I'm training!"

"Hey, don't talk to him like that! What's the matter with you!?" Zaira snapped in anger and confusion.

Pabumon stared imploringly at Izzy, his eyes welling with tears, one fell from his eye. And in its reflection, the face of the Dark Spectre Queen appeared briefly, before the tears glowed bright purple. Zaira watched in surprise, as the tears of Pabumon, became so many purple glowing bubbles, which floated over and around Izzy.

"Pabu-Pabu!?" Pabumon whined sadly. He couldn't voice his thoughts, his tear-filled eyes expressed them.

Had he forgotten who he was already? Who Zaira is...and himself?

"You've forsaken yourself, you've stopped thinking, stopped wondering, now you're losing your mind, and everything important to you!" Zaira exclaimed. "You've got to remember, Izzy!"

Izzy's blank eyes stared into the bubble tears, and they began to swirl with a magic energy, which seemed to pull him out of his strange trance.

_"Remember who you are, Izzy."_ The voice of the Sea witch called out. _"Remember all you've ever gone through since being here, and the friends you made."_

"Uhhh..." Izzy groaned, as magical images of the past showed themselves.

_"I just want to figure out what the DigiWorld really is…"_ The voice of Izzy said from within a bubble, shown to be walking up a mountain path as a frantic Tentomon followed him.

"I can't remember..." Izzy said to himself, eyes half shut.

Another bubble floated up to reveal Izzy, falling but saved by Tentomon, who flutters quickly to keep Izzy from falling into a deep pit.

_"Hold on, Izzy! And don't let go of your curiosity,"_ Tentomon declares. _"Your curiosity is what I admire!"_

More and more bubbles floated in front of Izzy, his eyes reflecting the numerous glowing bubbles, which continued to show portions of his past in the digital world.

_"This is purely scientific speculation, but I believe I've stumbled onto something more then just a simple computer game."_

Izzy shown walking among various stone blocks, which were inscribed with glyphs of the digital world history.

"WAKE UP!" Zaira snapped, and called upon a portion of her magic to pop the bubbles.

Pop!

They all popped loudly, and scattered a purple, sparkling dust on Izzy.

Izzy cried out in shock, and shut his eyes tight. The ten year old boy shook his head frantically, and when he opened his eyes, they were full of life again.

"Pabumon, Zaira!" The boy ran to Zaira and held out his hands for his digimon.

Zaira gently handed Pabumon over to Izzy, relieved to see him back.

"It's my fault you've lost your digivolution."

"Pabu! Pabu!"

"Stop fooling around!" Vademon's voice was heard shouting.

"Vademon, calm down!" Another voice said, they were coming from the steel door with a window.

"That's too pricey. Can't you give me a better bargain?"

"Not a chance. I just procured this inquisitive heart, so it's very fresh. I am not lowering its value."

Without his inquisitive heart, Izzy was unconcerned about who Vademon was talking to but he knew that the heart that they were talking about belonged to him.

The room looked partly like a cheap saloon in a Western, and partly like a specimen room.

"You don't understand, if I don't bring back the crest, then Lord Myotismon could end up killing me!" Demi-devimon said fluttering madly.

"Well, that's not my problem." Vademon said with a shrug.

While Pabumon created a diversion and retrieved the crest, the inquisitive heart returned to where it belonged, inside of Izzy. Unfortunately that meant both Vademon and Demidevimon were after them.

Izzy, Zaira and Pabumon burst out of the room and escaped into the Room of the Mysterious Universe. A battle begins. Tentomon digivolves and Zaira transforms with Vademon using his unidentified flying kiss sending an entire asteroid field to ram right into them!

Izzy fearfully cried out their names.

"You'll only hurt yourself if you underestimate me!" Vademon taunted.

Vademon must be a Perfect-Level Digimon! The only way to beat him was to Kabuterimon to digivolve again and/or Zaira to reach a new form. But how? He wasn't physically strong as Tai or Matt. What could he do? Then it hit him: his intelligence! It was knowledge that had helped them every step of the way!

"Kabuterimon! Stand up!" Izzy urged, his crest glowing purple.

This was what triggered the next step. "Kabuterimon, super digivolve to MegaKabuterimon!"

Zaira in turn, is able reach Digix – complete with new wings and outfit.

With a spell to beat back the main offense, Megakabuterimon valiantly pierced Vademon with his horn. The alien vanished in a spray of particles.

In a burst of white, Megakabuterimon carried both Izzy and the newly transformed Zaira out and upwards. And they found themselves at the summit.

While Theo and Matt's group was following the trail with the digivice, the ground had begun to shake.

"It's an earthquake!" Matt yelled.

Then something exploded free right in front of them: It is a bipedal Digimon with four arms. Its head is eyeless and has a skull helmet with a large horn that forks at the tip. Its shell consists of fused elytra with a green crystal ball at the base. It is red in coloration with blue hands and feet. Its torso and pelvis are skeletal in appearance. It has a blue stinger on its pelvis. And fluttering a new pair of lilac wings was… Zaira!

Zaira landed feeling woozy. Beside her was Izzy on his back with a concerned Motimon asking if they were alright. They were then pleasantly surprised to see the others running towards them.

"I'm glad we've found you!" T.K. said with relief.

"Motimon, you look like a baby when you're held by Izzy that way!" Tsunomon teased.

Motimon was flustered. "Izzy, put me down!"

"There's no harm in it, you're tired." Izzy reassured him.

"Yeah, and you're a little cutie." Dana commented patting Motimon.

"Chosen Children, Guardians of the Veil." Gennai's voice was heard.

They all spun around to see a hologram of Gennai in the air.

"The distortions in this world haven't been corrected yet. Use the information on this world, available in the Digimon Analyzer I've sent, as a reference from now on!" He explained before vanishing.

Intrigued, Izzy opened his laptop to the so-called Analyzer.

"This is the Digimon Analyzer. Here it is!" The screen showed Tentomon's Perfect-Level. "MegaKabuterimon, an Insect Digimon."

"That's me!" Motimon blushed proudly.

* * *

Things in the meantime were worse for Demidevimon, which meant he had to own up to his failure because running away was a more dangerous option.

"Lord Myotismon!"

"Where is the Crest?" The mysterious silhouette demanded.

"P-Please forgive me – it's that…!"

"No! Accept your punishment!"

A multitude of bats swooped down on Demidevimon and attacked.

"Help me!" the small digimon shrieked. "Lord Myotismon, please forgive me!"

**_To be continued…_**


	15. The Sleeping Tyrant, ShogunGekomon!

Long, long ago, in a country far, far away, there lived a king named ShogunGeckomon. One day, from the eastern country, a very important sorcerer came to visit and a welcoming party was held in his honor. Chefs throughout the country used their greatest skills to prepare the most magnificent dishes and the sorcerer was very pleased.  
ShogunGeckomon had quite a bit to drink, so he was in a jovial mood as he presented to the sorcerer his favorite medley. The sorcerer also appeared to be enjoying himself, beating in time to the music. But because ShogunGeckomon had not had his fill of singing, he did not let go of the mic. Reluctantly, the sorcerer allowed him carry on but when ShogunGeckomon did not stop singing even when the sun rose the next morning, he finally lost his temper. The sorcerer waved his staff once and immediately ShogunGeckomon fell into a deep, deep sleep.

And so, three hundred years passed. Then a passerby told them of a girl with a splendorous voice would soon arrive. So she did. Although she was indeed pretty, she did not appear at all like a Digimon. And so it was, for Mimi was something called a human being. Raising her delicate pinky finger as she held the mic, Mimi began to sing. The girl kept a high score on the karaoke screen as she sang.

"The sorcerer's prophecy came true!" The Digimon began to raise excited voices. But– All of a sudden, Mimi stopped singing.

"Well, I'm bored of this," Mimi said nonchalantly. "Also, I'm hungry. Isn't there something to eat?"

Once Mimi and Palmon had their fill, they asked, "Now, sing for us once more, tama."

But her stomach full, Mimi gave a big yawn and said, "I'm sleepy from eating so much. Get the beds ready."

From there, Mimi's selfishness began. What's more, she called together all of the tailors throughout the country so they would make her a gorgeous pink dress of gold and silver thread, studded with jewels. Reluctantly, Mimi would sing, but she would always stop midway. She made up many strange laws, such as ordering everyone to call her Princess Mimi, and cheer: 'L-O-V-E, Princess Mimi' whenever she showed herself on the balcony, and use camera flashes whenever she walked along the walkway.

The Digimon servants were very much troubled indeed. They would whisper furiously among themselves, "We've tried everything but nothing works, tama."

* * *

Then two humans who were also accompanied by Digimon, just like Mimi, arrived at this country with three other girls. Once they arrived reaching the top of the stairs and pushing open the doors they saw it was quite the commotion. Running from different sections were frog and tadpole type digimon. Green frogs with a wiry body, a white underbelly, yellow webs between its digits, and with a horn coiled around its neck, pointed teeth, and its tongue has three holes at the tip. And purple pollywogs with developed forelimbs and undeveloped hind limbs.

"What are they doing?" Joe wondered.

"So busy, ribbit!" One of the frogs said.

The partner digimon then explain that the frogs were Gekomon and the tadpoles were Otamamon.

"Hey, hey!" Gomamon stopped one of them. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"Why? Don't you know the princess said she wants fried rice with roast pork, shrimp and assorted vegetables right this minute, ribbit?"

"Fried rice?" The group questioned.

"Princess?" Beth frowned.

A second Gekomon showed up. "No, ribbit! The princess said she wants cold yaki-udon, ribbit!"

"What are you saying, ribbit? The princess wants simmering okara miso soup made Mediterranean Sea style, ribbit!" A third Gekomon showed up.

"No, ribbit! It's fried rice, ribbit!"

"Cold yaki-udon, ribbit!"

"Okara miso soup, Mediterranean Sea style, ribbit!"

"This sounds like quite a mess. Why doesn't she just make up her mind?" Beth remarked.

Tai tried to help. "What if you made all of that and gave it…"

"They're all wrong, tama!" An Otamamon approached.

"What now?" Joe said.

"The princess wants a gaudy looking polka dotted dress, tama!"

"No, tama!" Then a second Otamamon crawled up to the first. "She wants a retro ring, tama!"

This left all the Gekomon and the Otamamon arguing with each other.

"If this princess jerks around her servants like this…" Joe said with a wry grin.

"She must be an extremely selfish girl!" Tai finished sardonically.

"The proper word is spoiled!" Beth grumped.

Kylie shook her head, "Indeed she ought to be ashamed. Just look at how all the poor digimon rushing just to get all her orders done."

Abruptly the arguing digimon rushed away. Once they did, trumpets were heard playing a fanfare.

"The princess has arrived! Ribbit, ribbit!" A Gekomon called out.

And there, walking out of the hallway was…

"It's Mimi!" The group cried out.

The girl in question smiled slightly at seeing the arrivals. "Oh, it's you. It's been a long time!"

Except she was wearing a white and pink dress complete with white opera gloves and a crown.

"What are you doing in this weird place?" Tai asked.

"What am I doing here? Can't you tell? I'm a princess." Mimi replied, opening her fan.

"Then that means the selfish princess around here…" Agumon piped up.

"Was you?!" The others said aloud.

"Who are you calling selfish?!" Mimi snapped haughtily. "How rude!"

"Oh yeah? Since when are you of royal blood?" Beth countered.

* * *

Meanwhile deep in the dark forest, Demidevimon was speaking to his Master.

"What is currently happening with our plans?"

"Everything's going according to plan." replied Demidevimon.

"And what of the plan involving the castle?"

"Everything is going well there. I checked last night. All of the Gekomon are treating that Chosen Child like a princess. If they keep this up, the Crest of Purity will never activate."

"Have you heard any word regarding the whereabouts of Sirene's Heir?"

"None yet."

"I need not remind you what will happen if you repeat your mistakes, do you?"

DemiDevimon winced. "Y-Yes, of course."

"I'm expecting results." The portal collapsed and the bats flew away.

* * *

"The best part is knowing you're safe and sound." said Joe.

"Hey, this is no time to be fooling around. Get out of those funny clothes right now," Tai suggested.

"And the sooner the better. Don't you know what happening out there?" Beth pointed out.

"Funny clothes?" Mimi demanded indignantly. "Why do I have to change?"

"What do you mean why?" Agumon questioned innocently. "It'll be hard to walk in that dress!"

"Why do I have to walk? I don't like that." Mimi whined.

"Surely, you can't expect one of us to carry you the rest of the way… it simply not done." Kylie said sternly.

"Why do I have to go to the others? Sorry, but I'm not going." Mimi refused.

Her response made their jaws drop.

"There's no guarantee that we'll ever return to our own world, so why should I bother to go traveling out there where it's dangerous?" Mimi sneered. "I have everything in here! A bath, a soft bed, and good food! Besides, I'm the princess of this castle!"

"Mimi, is something wrong?" A familiar voice was heard from the hallway.

That was Palmon.

"It helps having you here, Palmon! Please tell her we're right!" Joe implored.

"What are you talking about?" Palmon stepped in… and she was a wearing a dress just like Mimi.

This had caused the boys to face-fault and the two older girls to facepalm in disbelief.

"You're dressed like that too?!" Joe actually yelled in her face.

"Mimi and Palmon." Tai spoke up again. "We can't waste time playing along! Hurry up and get ready!"

Mimi growled. "I am not joking around! When I decided to stay here, I meant it! If you don't have anything else to say, then hurry up and get out this minute!"

"Mimi, why are you mad?" Palmon asked obliviously.

"Palmon, you be quiet!"

"Mimi, don't talk to her like that!" Kylie scolded.

"Give me a break!" Tai was annoyed with Mimi's attitude. "You think we'll just agree with you quietly and leave?"

Joe added, "He's right! Besides, don't you know what we went through to get here?"

"I don't even want to know." Mimi replies snootily.

Her selfish reply made the others mad.

"Now you've made me mad!" Tai sat down on the floor stubbornly. "I won't move from this spot until you say you're coming!"

"Me neither!" Agumon and Gomamon agreed.

Beth snarled, "_They're_ staying put… but I'm the one who's going to drag you out by the hair if I have to!"

She stomps over to Mimi and flings her over her shoulder. Only for the younger girl to start screaming and ring a small bell frantically. The next thing the group knew they were tossed out on their butts by the Otamamon and the Gekomon, who'd quickly responded to Mimi's screams.

"That hurt!" Tai said.

"Treat your guests more courteously!" Gomamon yelled.

"You know making her leave by force wasn't going to work." Kylie rebuked Beth.

"How was I supposed to know Mimada was going to pull off the 'Help, I'm being kidnapped' routine you use for stranger danger?" Beth retorted then she yelled at the castle. "You're just lucky I can't raise a hand to you!"

"Violence isn't going to convince her either!" Joe was taken aback

"I was talking to the Gekomon and the Otamamon." Beth grumbled.

"Whatever it is, she's assuming too much because these frogs are spoiling her!" Tai said in exasperation.

"You're exactly right, ribbit."

They turned to see three Gekomon and two Otamamon by the front door, looking morose. They wanted the group to follow them in an attempt to explain things.

"So you think we ought to set the record straight?" Beth asked Tai and Joe, jerking a thumb at the Gekomon and Otamamon. "That Mimada's just a little usurper, and that their true blue princess is right here?"

She motions to Kylie, who looks greatly taken aback.

"Oh no! No, no, no!" Kylie shook her head and hands frantically.

"This is because of the guy who's after you, isn't it?" Tai asked her in concern.

Kylie looked a little nervous. "I- yes. Think about it, if you tell the Gekomon and the Otamamon and they tell the next digimon and Demidevimon overhears, he'll relay the message to his boss… and he'll know where I am!"

Joe, Tai, Agumon and Gomamon exchanged thoughtful glances. What she said made some sense. "Okay." they said somewhat reluctantly.

The group was led to a large structure behind the castle however the inside was just one giant room to show their slumbering master, ShogunGekomon, who they say fell into a deep sleep after losing a singing contest, and will only awaken after hearing singer as good as the one that defeated him. They explain how DemiDevimon told them about Mimi's amazing singing voice, so they found her and had her sing for them. The first time, Mimi forgets the lyrics, so the Gekomon and Otamamon serve her a food buffet to help her remember. The second time, she complains about the lack of decoration and asks for a makeover. She continues to make excuses and demand things from the Gekomon and Otamamon, becoming spoiled and eventually not singing at all.

"That's why we have a request for you, ribbit!"

"Can you get the princess to sing for us, tama?"

"We're not so sure about that…" Agumon sounded worried.

"Okay. Leave it to me!" Tai then slapped his chest determinedly.

"You'll ask her for us, ribbit?!"

"What you want is to get this big guy to wake up, right? Just leave the singing to me!" Tai said holding the microphone.

Tai was first to give it a try, then it was Joe. Next Agumon and Gomamon tried and there were no results whatsoever. ShogunGekomon wouldn't wake up.

Just then, the lights went out briefly then went on as an entirely different song waved out of the speakers.

_"Written in stone, Every rule, every word. Centuries old and unbending..."  
_

Beth was on the stage holding the microphone passionately like a pop-star singing an emotional melody.

Except the lord of the castle was still asleep. What's more, they can't convince Kylie to sing, and when they tried to use a voice recording of Kylie and Dana, the tape goes haywire halfway through the song.

"Won't anything else work with this guy?!" Beth griped.

"It's impossible to wake him up unless it's Mimi singing..." Tai mumbled.

"You guys!" Palmon walked into the room. "I was worried about you. What happened?"

"You don't know?" Agumon questioned. "Haven't you noticed Mimi acting strangely?"

"Strangely?" Palmon thought for a bit before finally saying. "You think so too? I've been thinking that maybe she has!"

The boys slumped in disbelief while Beth and Kylie rolled their eyes. Really?

"At least figure that out for yourself." Gomamon muttered. Palmon chuckled in embarrassment.

The plan was simple: Palmon will have Mimi sing into a Karaoke Machine they could get her on tape. Then play it back so that ShogunGekomon will wake up!

It was a half an hour later and the four of us were crouched down outside Mimi's room, waiting for her to start singing. Except their little plan went awry.

Mimi picked up the microphone and was about to start singing when she saw the wire leading to the recording machine, which was of course, right outside with the group. She also noticed Gomamon's flipper, Joe and Agumon's head that were visible at the window.

She quickly caught on to what was happening and screamed into the microphone, causing the boys to yell too.

By this time, Beth had had enough.

"Alright, I'm at my limit! I'm going to give you the ugly truth from the very start…!" The redhead teenager opens her mouth to scream an angry diatribe at Mimi…

_CRACK!_

* * *

The next thing they knew, Beth is lying down on the dungeon slab, emitting a pained squeak.

Kylie sighed sympathetically, "You have to admit, it is kind of funny. Yelling so loud you actually throw out your back?"

"I come from a family of doctors and in all my years, there was never a medical case like this." Joe shook his head in disbelief.

As it turned out, when they failed to record Mimi, Beth had attempted to shriek her head off at the spoiled younger girl… only for the stress and frustration had caused the redhead tomboy to actually throw out her back. It didn't help that Mimi had ended laughing at her expense or that she had the reluctant Gekomon and Otamamon seize the group and lock them in the dungeon.

"You can't trick me, I know exactly what you were planning." Mimi boasted.

"Mimi, open your eyes!" said Tai.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Joe urged.

"Oh? Did I do something wrong?" Mimi mocked.

"You can't even figure that out anymore?" Tai argued. "Don't you feel anything by doing this to your friends?"

"It's not just us!" Agumon joined in. "You're causing a lot of trouble for the Gekomon and the Otamamon too!"

Mimi merely turned away started to walk away even as the others called out to her. Then she reached the edge of the cell where Palmon was.

"Doing this is too dreadful even for you, Mimi!" Palmon cried. "I never thought you'd go so far…I never thought you'd go so far…" Her green eyes began to fill with tears. "… I hate you!"

As you would expect, those words upset Mimi greatly, but she refused to back down.

"I see. Well crying isn't going to help!" Mimi said sharply.

She couldn't believe how everyone was acting, that even Palmon would say such a thing to her. Kylie reached out and grabbed Mimi's arm.

"Mimi, what you're doing is wrong on so many levels! What's more there IS a way back to Earth – somehow Tai and Theo found it!"

"Why does everyone want to take me with them on their journey?!" Mimi exploded. "I'm sick of all these scary things…!"

"You're going to be facing frightening dangers your entire life. What I'm trying to say is you should never be afraid. And if hiding away from the world is all you're going to do… you're going to watch your life go by without you."

Mimi only huffed at Kylie's words and marches out, accompanied by the Gekomon and leaving them in the dungeons.

"It gets worse, I meant to tell you…" Tai said to the others in the cell. "Someone is bringing the Digimon to Earth, she's behind all of this and wants to use the digimon to conquer the planet and other dimensions, someone called the Dark Spectre Queen told me."

"The Merciful And astern of the Eastern Sea?!" Kylie exclaimed. "I read about her, Vanessa is supposed to be a guide for the lost, and aids those less fortunate. And she told you someone is behind this?"

"Devimon, Etemon, all of those guys were made by this witch," Tai said. "Though, she made her sound like some other dimensional monster, Lady Despair."

* * *

That night Mimi had a nightmare, which involved a dark rift with Devimon and Etemon were advancing menacingly upon her.

"Gekomon! Otamamon! Save me!"

They said "No."

Mimi stamped her foot. "Fine! Then I won't sing for you anymore!"

"That's okay, ribbit. You wouldn't sing for us even if we did help you, ribbit."

"We're going home to sleep, ribbit." So they walked off

"Wait! I'll sing! Please, help me!" Mimi's fear increased as they faded away into the shadows.

She gave a quick glance back at Devimon and Etemon, they were getting closer. Just then the others appeared with Palmon.

"You guys! Help me!" She said a little too hopefully.

"After locking us up?" Beth asked sarcastically with a glare. "As if!"

"You're no friend of ours!" Tai scorned.

"It serves you right." agreed Agumon.

"Indeed." Kylie nodded, her gaze was ice cold.

"Have you forgotten what you've done to us?" Joe asked darkly.

Mimi then turned to her own Digimon partner desperately. "Palmon!"

"No, I hate you!" The plant digimon back away, disappearing on the shadows like all the rest.

"No!" Mimi wailed.

Now the two evil Digimon were too close for comfort. Mimi covered her face with her hands, bracing for the end, and as she did a red mist seemed to rise from her body.

"Oooooooh such tantalizing suffering..." A voice purred from the shadows.

Mimi screamed in alarm, when a hand with sharp, black, curved talon grabbed her throat, and pulled her backwards. Mimi cried out in alarm when a pair of pink, glowing eyes, with black, vertical cat slit pupils stared at her gleefully. The mist being sucked into the figures eyes.

"What wonderful suffering you're bleeding," The figure giggled, and pulled back a ways to reveal a woman with long, flowing golden hair, and a pretty face. But she wore a disturbing, Black Hand shaped brooch in her hair and a wicked smile.

"You turned your friends away from yourself," The woman laughed. "You let your being needed by these little froggies to swell up your pretty, pimple head. And soon, you refused to even sing as they hoped for and became something they hate..." She nuzzled her cheek to Mimi's who was very much freaked out by now.

"Now, my dear, you are hating and loathing yourself for your own arrogance and selfishness. And fear you've totally lost your friends forever! AHAHAHAHA!" She released Mimi, who fell down in a heap, looking up in terror.

"Oh, I've forgotten to introduce myself," The woman curtsied, wearing a blood red dress with a red fur hemline. "I am Lady Despair, a most terrible and beautiful Queen of Darkness. And I happen to feed on negative emotions..."

She gestures to Mimi with a taloned hand.

"And your misery attracted me here to your dream, so I decided to stop by and have a bit of a nosh! Hahaha!" Lady Despair threw her glittering head back to laugh maniacally.

"A...Dream?" Mimi gasped.

Lady Despair's eyes widened.

"KRAKEN SPIT! NO! NO! DON'T WAKE..." Lady Despair shouts.

* * *

But too late, Mimi snapped her eyes open, and sat up screaming in alarm.

"Mimi…" A voice called out from the darkness. When Mimi sensed that presence and opened her eyes, she was greeted by a familiar face.

Sora was a lovely girl who was of a different type from Mimi. With a face full of love and tinged with sorrow, the girl Sora said to Mimi, "You know what you've done wrong, don't you?"

The truth was that Mimi herself felt that she had gone overboard. Ever since the Gekomon and Otamamon obeyed her every desire, she began to give in to her selfish whims. And now she had locked Palmon and her friends in the dungeon. Mimi apologized honestly. "…Yes. I'm very sorry."

"Then you know what you should do to fix things, right?"

"Yes."

"That's great. After all, you really are a good girl."

There was a bright light. And Mimi opened her eyes again, she saw that her crest was glowing a bright green.

* * *

Mimi released Palmon and the others from the dungeons and prepared to sing. To atone for all that she had done to them, she decided to sing to the very end.

"Gekomon and Otamamon… Kylie, Tai, Joe, Agumon, Gomamon, Beth… And Palmon… Everyone… I'm so sorry!" Mimi bowed apologetically.

The whole crowed room was shocked by Mimi's change in attitude.

"I know that just apologizing might not be enough, but I've come to my senses! I've realized how horribly I've been treating all of you! There's more…Kylie, could you come up here please?"

The teenage girl with a long, blonde braid came up on stage, quite puzzled.

Mimi backed up tearfully. "This is your true princess. Kylie is the daughter of Sirene, the guardian nymph of this world."

Stunned, the Gekomon and Otamamon stood still for a moment, allowing this new information to register with the others watching patiently. Amazement gave way to hope, and they all let out a cheer. Before Kylie could say anything, frog and tadpole type digimon were crowding around her adoringly. They smiled, laughed and raised their fists in the air with glee.

"We're on your side!" said one of the Otamamon.

"I remember seeing you in your mother's arms when you were just a tiny baby, ribbit!" said a Gekomon. He reached out and touched Kylie's arm gently.

The older girl in turn was overwhelmed and surprised. "Thank you." Kylie then looked to Mimi, "I'm glad you opened your eyes Mimi. Now I think you owe them a song," she added with a wink.

Palmon and the others forgave her with smiles on their faces.

"Mimi, sing for us!" Palmon called.

"We want to hear you sing, princess, ribbit!"

Mimi watched with tearful eyes and smile, somewhat relieved that no one else held a grudge against her.

"Start the music!" Palmon cried delightedly.

And they all listened to her, spellbound. ShogunGekomon had awakened causing the Gekomon and Otamamon to cheer except things wouldn't go as they all hoped.

"I was having a wonderful nap. Who woke me up, ribbit?!" The giant orange frog roared.

He stomped down hard, causing them all to flee for their lives.

"No one told us he was so aggressive!" Joe yelled.

"I didn't know he was such a tyrant, tama!"

"We shouldn't have woken him up if we know about this, ribbit!"

"This is crazy!" Beth hollered.

Mimi standing on the stage with a mic in her hand and realized that she was the girl who had woken him up.

"Hey, you ungrateful swine! Don't you know who woke you up?" Mimi yelled back.

"Who cares about that?!"

Fortunately the digimon and the two guardians with them got ready for battle. Togemon got Mimi out of harm's way, Greymon became MetalGreymon while Beth and Kylie flew over in Digix mode.

"Incandescent beam!"

"Winter rose!"

"Giga Destroyer!"

The spells and Metalgreymon's missiles went directly into both of ShogunGekomon's horns and exploded, destroying the entire building. Caught underneath the rubble, ShogunGekomon fell once more into a long sleep once more. Not that it was a big loss anyway.

"Sleep for the rest of your life!" Mimi said stubbornly, causing everyone to laugh.

The Gekomon and Otamamon assured Kylie they will be there for her, and that she'll have a fully fixed castle when she comes back to rule.

After Mimi apologized to everyone for her previous attitude (she even asked Beth about her back) the crest of purity shone brightly. Yet there was more than pressing matter on her mind…

"I had this awful dream, some witch...she tried to...suck my bad feelings to make herself more powerful!" Mimi explained. "She...she had such horrible pink, glowing eyes, her pupils black and vertical slit like a cats."

"Sh-she didn't happen to have golden hair that seemed to shimmer, did she?" Kylie asked in alarm.

"Yes, do you know her?" Mimi asked.

"Only in legends," Kylie said. "And our studies, she's a level 20 threat, 10 being a SUPER magic threat, she's a dark creature and one of thee most powerful sorceresses in any world. Lady Despair."

"YES! That's what she called herself," Mimi said.

"But, who is she?" Joe asked.

Beth explained. "All we got from a textbook about her...is that she's a creature from another plane of existence, she is incredibly powerful and dangerous. When she enters a world, she brings darkness, madness, and destruction!"

And then, Mimi and Palmon left to join the other in their continuous adventure.

But why hasn't Sora shown herself in all this time?

* * *

The only currently known thing is…

"Aaaaaargh! Help me, please! I don't want to die!" The scream belonged to DemiDevimon, who had his leg chained and was hanging from the ceiling over a fire like a roasting pig.

"P–Please forgive me, Lord Myotismon!" DemiDevimon pleaded desperately, but Myotismon's eyes smiled coldly. His thin fingers with clear nails like that of a bird of prey ran through the blond bangs that hung over his pale face.

His voice was not angry. In fact, he sounded almost happy. He was obviously enjoying himself, relishing the eyes full of fear, the screams, the face twisted with pain. Except… he tired of it after a few hours before retiring to his chambers.

DemiDevimon's Master refused to admit it out loud, but he was still languishing the absence of someone greatly important to him.

Red candles burned along the walls of the spiral staircase, their wax dripping like blood at their feet. Even when they reached the bottom of the stone room, that aching feeling did not go away. In fact, it got even stronger.

None of the children nor the guardians knew of the sinister going ons in the Digiworld shadows. Unfortunately they would soon find out.

**_To be continued…_**


	16. Crest of love glows

It had taken most of the afternoon for Beth's group to get from ShogunGekomon's castle to the base of one of the larger mountains close to the water. As they'd decided earlier, Mimi, Palmon, Beth and Tai took the swan-boat while Joe, Gomamon, Koromon and Kylie got a lift thanks to Gomamon's marching fishes.

From the east, a voice shouted out to them. Perfect timing. Coming down the path was Matt's group and they'd found both Izzy and Zaira.

"You've gotten smaller in the blink of an eye." Palmon commented as she looked at the three Baby-Level Digimon.

"Don't bother us!" They shouted.

"Oh Palmon don't tease them, I think they're all adorable." Kylie said as she picked up Tsunomon to snuggle him. The resulting physical contact and gushing compliment made the baby Digimon flush bashfully.

"So that's so far five of us guardians with you all here makes…" Beth calculated then she looked around. "But we're missing Sora and Piyomon!"

"We didn't see her." Matt told them.

"Where could she have gone?" wondered Tai.

Kylie answered, "I lost sight of her in the forest when I went after Demidevimon on the evening she left."

Mimi then spoke up. "I think I might have seen her."

Everyone looked to her.

"Where?"

Mimi replied, "At the Gekomon's palace. But… it must've been a dream..."

"So that's what happened." Joe said.

"When Demidevimon tried to feed us those mushrooms, I remember the voice that warned me belonged to Sora." Koromon added.

"If that's the case, then why hasn't Sora come to us?" T.K. asked.

"There's no use thinking about why she's done it. We're not her." Matt answered then looked at his Digivice, the other children followed suit. The map on their digivices indicated that Sora wasn't too far from them.

"In any case, we'll have to catch her first." Zaira speculated.

"This is like playing hide-and-seek." Tai commented.

"It's coming from the north." Izzy pointed forwards.

* * *

Meanwhile in the dark mountains of Sever lay a foreboding fortress. However, none of the Digimon living in the forest dared to approach the mountain that loomed over them. They were afraid of it. Afraid of both the castle that stood at the top of that mountain, and of Myotismon who lurked within it.

Yes, it was the lair belonging to the vicious villain Demidevimon serves under. And things did not bode well for the bat creature.

He tumbled down the stone stairs in with a pained scream. And walking down the steps, out of the shadows was Myotismon himself. A six foot tall vampire with dark blonde hair, deathly pale skin, cold blue eyes, a cobalt blue outfit and a red mask.

"I've grown quite tired of your incompetence."

"Please forgive me… Lord Myotismon…!"

"Courage, Hope, Friendship… One by one, the children's Crests have regained their light in addition to the Ethereal guardians' enhancing their powers. What's worse, you've failed to bring her back."

"B-But sir, not all of the Crests have activated yet!" Demidevimon fluttered his wings points to an open image showing a somber Sora and Piyomon. "Especially this girl. Her Crest of Love will never glow! All because I've given her some advice. The other seven children should be gathering by her side any time now with only five of the guardians. If we wait for that… we will crush them with one swift stroke!" He paused before adding nervously, "Well except for Sirene's heir that is."

Myotismon narrowed his eyes, taking his minion's idea into consideration. "When that time comes, call for me. I'll personally send those children straight to Hell." He soon walked away.

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

In the meantime, the group had followed Sora's trail into the forest. When they're attacked by Flymon, Birdramon comes to the rescue. They then follow her to Sora, who tries to run away but is caught between Tai and Matt.

T.K. and the five older girls arrived with the boys' respective digimon.

"Sora, don't you like us anymore? Is that why you're running away?" T.K. asked.

Sora sadly shook her head. "No… it's not that…"

Piyomon then dropped down from the trees to land right next to her. "Sora. Tell them what happened to you."

Sora sighed then began to explain. "When Piyomon and I… left that night to look for Tai and Theo… I saw DemiDevimon talking to someone."

Kylie tensed up, her eyes darting from Sora to the others.

"And what were they talking about?" asked T.K.

"They were mentioning our Crests."

"The Crests?" Beth inquired.

"Each of our Crests has a different meaning. For example, Tai has the Crest of Courage." Sora explained.

"Crest of Courage?" Tai questioned then blinked in surprise. "I see. So that's why my Crest glowed back then!"

"Matt, yours is the Crest of Friendship."

Matt looked at his crest. "Friendship?"

"What about mine?" T.K. asked Sora.

"T.K., yours is the Crest of Hope."

"Oh! The Crest of Hope!" The little boy looked towards Patamon delightedly.

"Izzy has the Crest of Knowledge. Joe has the Crest of Sincerity. Mimi has the Crest of Purity. And lastly, mine is…" Sora hesitated then looked down at her crest. "The Crest of Love."

Tai grinned. "Love fits you perfectly, Sora. You're very sentimental."

Sora spun in anger. "No it doesn't! It doesn't fit me at all!"

"B-But… You're always worrying about the others…"

"I don't care about the others! You don't… You don't know what I'm really like, stop judging me!"

"Oh, so you're saying you'd sell us out in a heartbeat if given half the chance?!" Theo challenged connivingly.

Sora quickly went from anger to shock. "No! I..."

"Don't you know that the night you and Piyomon left to find Tai, Kylie had followed after you?"

Sora stole a glance at a silent Kylie. "No, I didn't know that."

"Then what's the problem?" Beth inquired. "What could be so bad that you get so worked up about a crest that represents something very important in life?"

Sora sadly took a seat under the tree. "My Crest… It won't glow. Because I don't have any love."

"What do you mean, you don't have any love?" T.K. asked.

"Demidevimon told me."

* * *

It wasn't even near evening yet, but the Sun couldn't be seen anywhere there. All they could see were trees with black leaves.  
But Sora, Piyomon and unbeknownst to them, Kylie, kept walking in deeper and deeper.

In the forest, they'd spotted Demidevimon speaking to someone. And when he finished talking top the stranger, he saw Sora, and it was the first thing he said.

"So you're the bearer of the Crest of Love! I can't believe a Chosen Child is here!"

They didn't even ask anything and he spilled everything to us. He must have been really panicked.

"Oh too bad for you, you're a kid raised without knowing true love. That's why your crest will never glow."

Then DemiDevimon tried to attack us, so Piyomon became Birdramon and drove him away. Then Sora walked right into the mountain.

* * *

"So you believed what he said back then." Kylie commented

"Oh give us a break!" Dana huffed, "That little creep's a big fat liar!"

Sora muttered back. "No… He wasn't lying."

She then explained her family is ie-moto. Her mother, Toshiko, is a master that teaches Ikebana: flower arranging. Then there must be a lot of apprentices, and her mother must always be busy. While her father Haruhiko Takenouchi is university professor in the anthropology field. Sora loves her father and thinks that her mother doesn't care about him.

There was one little detail: Sora resents being the daughter of an Ikebana master, particularly in the fact that she's expected to carry on the family business. It was no different than finishing school: you always have to be on your best behavior and appearance.

And then there was that time when Sora was on the girls' soccer team… there was a big game that day and Sora was their ace striker. She'd tried to explain it to her mother only to be told to lower her voice or the flowers would wilt. Then her mother reminded Sora of the injury she'd gotten on her left leg. Sora insisted that she was fine then when she sat down, her mother rebuked her that she ought to quit soccer that it doesn't let her sit properly on her heels.

In response, Sora answered back that she likes soccer better than making flower arrangements. When her mother questioned how Sora could be her daughter… Sora had yelled back: 'Why can't you understand?!'

"I arrived too late, our team had lost with a big difference. I didn't have the strength to stay in that club anymore. My mom doesn't see me as anything besides the next generation successor of a flower arrangement school! She thinks our reputation as an ie-moto is more important than me! That's the kind of woman she is! That's why he was right in saying that I was child raised without knowing true love!" Sora ended up yelling the last part and looked ready to throw away her crest.

Tai grabbed her hand. "Stop it, Sora!"

"Let go of me!"

"Even if you don't get along with your mom, you can't believe in what DemiDevimon said!"

Sora just broken down crying. Matt suggested to let her cry it out.

"If it makes you feel any better, my folks are barely around for me or my sisters." Beth said flatly.

Theo slumped against a tree, her hands in her pockets. "Not that it'll help, but my biological mom abandoned me when I was toddler in an orphanage before I ran away. Cost my adoptive mother an arm and a leg to adopt me."

Said revelations left an awkward reaction from the boys while Sora continued crying.

"It doesn't…" Tai shook his head uncomfortably.

"So long as we're all confessing here…" Zaira rubbed the back of her head uncertainly. "When my father remarried it took months for my stepmother to warm up to each me and vice-versa. But she discovered – well something big happened that helped us understand each other a lot better. What I'm saying is, sometimes relatives might end up surprising you."

"We all have our pain, but just because your parent might not love you," Kylie kneels in front of Sora. "It doesn't mean we don't love you..."

"She's right, Sora." A voice called out.

Sora looked down at the puddle of tears, which had formed and show the face of the Dark Spectre Queen.

"Love can be found, it can be felt and learned at anytime in our lives. I went million of years before I experienced genuine love. But there is love all around you, for if you don't know love. then why did you go to such trouble to help your friends?"

T.K. merely stepped up to Sora. "I wanted to thank you."

Sora stopped her crying long enough to look at T.K.

"You're the one who told us not to eat the mushrooms, right?" asked the little boy.

"We knew Demidevimon was up to no good so we followed him secretly." Piyomon explained. "Also when Matt, Joe, Beth and Dana were working in Digitamamon's restaurant… we replaced a brick with those potatoes that were outside that he tried to sabotage."

Matt looked surprised. "I didn't know."

"You didn't have to hide from us." Tai pointed out.

"Sora just wanted to be alone." Piyomon piped up.

"Sora, you looked out for us even when in hiding. That's not the actions of someone raised without love." Kylie added.

"Yeah, what if Demidevimon got it all wrong?" Dana suggested. "What if it's not exactly love for friends of family? That maybe you have to find your true love?"

The boys all looked at her as if she'd grown two heads.

"I'm just eleven years old and still in the fifth grade!" Sora protested. "There's years to go before I even start thinking about romance."

"Farfetched as it is… she's got a point." Zaira's eyes had flashed a bright violet before speaking up. "I know because… in one premonition, in at least ten years…" she grimaced and flushed with what she was going to say next. "You'll take one of the boys in the group as your husband."

Tai, Matt and Sora reacted as expected, "WHAT?!"

"Eww!" T.K. made a face. "That's too much information!"

Tai pulled at the collar of his T-shirt. "Er... well, if it's true... then who is it?"

This time Vanessa interrupts. "Oh no. No, nope! No more spoilers for you. Sora, you need to find that love, maybe the reason your mother did what she did was because she loves you and wanted to protect you so badly, she made a hard choice. And you will do the same for the one you love too!" Vanessa warned before vanished from the tear drops.

Sora looked doubtful of her words.

"I really like you, Sora." T.K. admitted. "So don't leave anymore, okay? I don't like it when my family… I mean, when my friends separate."

"Yeah… I guess in some way, we've become one big family." Beth shrugged with a smile.

Sora was tearful again but this time because she was moved. "Okay, I won't." She then wiped them away and looked at them. "I'm sorry."

"Hey!" Joe's called out as he and the others ran up to join them.

Tai waved them over. "Hey, what took you so long?"

"That's because Joe fell into the river." Mimi mentioned, much to Joe's visible embarrassment.

"Mimi, you kept sitting down and complaining about how tired and hungry you were!"

While the five guardians and children conversed, they were unaware that they were were being watched by a malicious DemiDevimon. "They're all here, now to tell Lord Myotismon!"

* * *

That night, the villain made his move. The castle's stone gate opened to make way for a minacious procession: black draconic creature pulling a wooden stagecoach with a ghostly hooded driver.

As it flew into the night sky, there was no doubt that a deadly foe was about to make its frightening introduction to the heroes of the tale.

By this time, the group was fast asleep around the fire they'd set up. Unfortunately, no one was on watch, and thus made them easy targets for Demidevimon. He pulled out one of his larger demidarts, intending to pick off a few of them before the arrival of his master. But didn't count on Piyomon's acute sense of hearing, the bird digimon awoke in time to see Demidevimon aim for Sora!

"Demi dart!"

"Sora, look out!" Piyomon quickly threw herself on top of Sora, which had the dart hit her left side.

"Piyomon!" Sora cried, and pulled the syringe out of her. "Piyomon! Hang in there! Piyomon!"

"Sora… I'll protect you…" the pink bird moaned in pain.

"Piyomon!"

Sora's worried voice was what caused everyone else to stir.

"What? What's wrong?" Tai asked as he sat up.

Beth touched her head with a yawn, "What time is it?"

"Oh, look! It's DemiDevimon!" T.K. then shouted.

Upon being spotted, Demidevimon panicked and quickly fled the scene. The moment he did, the full moon was suddenly blocked by dark clouds causing the entire area the group was resting in to go dark with only the campfire as their source of light. Needless to say, this was great cause for alarm.

"Hey, who turned off the other night lights?!" Theo yelped, glancing around wildly.

A minute later, the sky cleared to show that the full moon had turned an ominous red. Furthermore, they were all now in an open field instead of a forest clearing.

"What happened to the woods?!" Dana yelped.

"Look! Up in the sky!" Zaira pointed.

They looked up to see the same large gargoylish creature pulling a wooden carriage in their very direction.

Kylie's eyes widened. "Oh no…" she whispered fearfully.

"Wha… What's that?" stuttered Tai.

The back of the carriage was opening. And a black coffin with golden etchings fell out, then opened to reveal what was inside.

It drops lightly to the ground just several meters from them. He looked human but was clearly a Digimon. None of the group knew the stranger that was wrapped in the black cape like a bat conceals itself with its wings… save for Kylie know who he is, but he's definitely bad news.

"Chosen Children, Guardians." The stranger addressed them balefully.

Sora blinked in recognition and pointed. "That's the bad guy that kept talking to DemiDevimon!"

"The bad guy has a name!" Demidevimon said defensively. "This is Lord Myotismon!"

Theo stared then glanced back at Kylie. "K, is this the same guy you said…?"

Kylie nodded nervously. "Yes."

"It just HAD to be a vampire…" Zaira said darkly but she too was uneasy.

"Myotismon?" Tai questioned.

"That's LORD Myotismon!" DemiDevimon reprimanded.

Those few moments after the villain was revealed seemed to last five life times. To Beth, as time slowed, it seemed all her senses were at full alert. She could feel the cold night air on the skin of her arms. She could hear the voices of her friends, all around her murmuring in fright. The bitter taste of fear in her mouth. And her disbelieving eyes saw clearly the tiny details, such as the cold smile on that vampire's face as he began to stalk them.

DemiDevimon's Master merely laughed coldly.

"Your journey ends here. Grisly Wing!" He opened up his cape causing a swarm of bats to fly right towards the group.

The Digimon used their attacks to hold them off, while four of the guardians transformed, poor Kylie appeared to petrified on the spot.

"They just keep coming!" Izzy yelled.

Several of the winged critters got through and began trying to bite Mimi and Joe.

"Palmon, digivolve to... TOGEMON! Everyone, get down! Needle spray!" Togemon's needles struck down many of the evil bats.

"Now! Gomamon, evolve! IKKAKUMON! Harpoon Vulcan!"

The missiles flew directly towards the vampire who merely smiled coldly.

"You got him!" Joe cheered before noticing the look on the older girls' faces.

"No, no!" Dana interjected. "Something's not right!"

She wasn't wrong. Right out of the dusty cloud, Myotismon emerged wrapped in his cape much to their shock.

"You fools don't yet comprehend, do you?" Myotismon gloats. "I was created just like my siblings, the black blood of Lady Despair was used to create my data. And you've no idea the power within the scope of her being, so give into the horror, for I am beyond your measly powers!"

He does a dramatic lifting of his cape. "Crimson lightning!" In so doing, he flung out a whip of red energy to strike at both Togemon and Ikkakumon and knocking them off their feet.

Myotismon proceeded to do the same with the other Digimon while laughing maniacally.

"Tai… He's very strong…" Agumon groaned from his spot.

"No way!" Tai gaped.

"Whoa!" Theo leaped back just barely avoid the bloody stream then scowled. "How about a little fire, bloodsucker?"

She threw a fireball at his face, only for it to stop halfway and dissipate! Any sparks that might've damaged his skin healed instantly.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" he sneered.

"Alright, then let's get physical!" Beth shouted aiming a punch, which he dodged then struck her, Dana and Zaira with his attack.

"Why does they always have to be tougher than they look?!" Dana grunted, as she tried to sit up.

"He's too strong…" Kylie mumbled, she looked a little lost.

"I have to help…" Piyomon mumbled from Sora's arms. "I'm the only one left…"

"That's impossible! Your body has been weakened." Sora refused.

"Please understand, Sora… I need to be with them!" Now the little pink bird was struggling to get out of Sora's arms.

"No, Piyomon, you can't!" Kylie gasped.

"Please don't go!" Sora added.

"Let go!"

"No! You can't go, you're hurt!"

"Why can't you understand?!"

The words that came out of Piyomon's mouth rocked Sora to the core. _"Why can't you understand?!"_ No one knew it then… but those were the exact same words Sora had shouted to her mother on the day of the soccer game.

_My mom…_ Sora thought. _She was only trying to protect me._

Piyomon took this chance to become Birdramon, Sora and Kylie could only watch as she flew towards the vampire.

"Meteor Wing!" But she didn't inflict much damage.

"Crimson lightning!" Myotismon's counterattack hit the giant bird right in the chest!

Kylie screamed in both shock and distress. Birdramon could feel her power draining and her consciousness about to fade. She was falling and would surely be destroyed on the spot.

"Birdramon!" Sora wailed, running towards her falling Digimon. "BIRDRAMON!"

What she didn't notice was that her crest finally glowed a bright red. Sora's Digivice turned crimson and shot out a beam of light through her crest which shined down on Birdramon.

"Birdramon super digivolve to… GARUDAMON!"

Garudamon was a giant bird woman with large wings that looked something out of Native American lore.

Myotismon had shielded his eyes from bright light. "Wh-Where is that light coming from?"

Garudamon turned to gently pick Sora and Kylie up in her gigantic talon-like hands. "Sora, your love has successfully transferred to me!"

Sora shed tears of relief. "Piyomon… You look amazing!"

Kylie was too stunned to speak.

Myotismon cursed. "The Crest of Love had to activate just as I was about to claim victory!"

"I will always protect Sora and her friends!" Garudamon declared unafraid.

"Shadow Wing!" She unleashes a copy of her form made out of flames towards the vampire. But Myotismon remains a formidable opponent.

"Grisly Wing!" He used his own attack to hold off the full force of it.

Nevertheless, saving the other children and the guardians is was Garudamon's first priority. "Come, let's escape while we still can!" She picks them up and flies high into the sky.

They flew past mountains in time to see the sun rising, it was a beautiful sight to behold.

* * *

It was morning, the group was now resting by a stream.

"See? There was nothing to worry about." Tai said to Sora. "Your Crest glowed like everyone else's."

Sora was able to understand the words of the Dark Spectre Queen. "Before I knew what I was doing, I was doing the same as my mother. I didn't want Piyomon to get hurt. That's how and when I understood that mother loved me all along."

"I'm glad." Beth smiled.

"I felt your love too, Sora!" Pyokomon said happily.

"Thanks." Sora smiled back

"I'm glad you're back to your usual self!" Pyokomon added.

"I want some of Sora's love too." Tai piped up.

"Wait, did you just say you like her?" Theo smirked.

Tai blushed. "Theo, cut it out!"

"Tai, you dummy! What're you saying?!" questioned Joe.

"Joe's face is all red." T.K. noted.

Mimi then walked up to Joe with something in her hands. "Joe, shall I give you my love?"

Everyone actually looked at her.

"Here you go." She then dropped some acorns into Joe's open hands.

"Mimi… what are you doing…?" Joe dropped his gaze as the other kids laughed.

Beth playfully elbowed him. "Would you rather she dipped you?"

"Kylie, are you okay?" T.K. suddenly asked.

Kylie shivered, "I froze. I couldn't transform, let alone fight. I didn't even try to grab the others to escape. What is wrong with me?!"

"Kylie..."

Kylie looked around, until she heard her name coming from a puddle on the ground, and goes over to see it glow before the face of the Dark Spectre Queen appeared.

**"Love is blind child, it's your greatest strength and your weakness. Sometimes, we find ourselves enthralled by things that are scary, because they are new, exciting, but we must never lose sight of ourselves."** Vanessa warned.

Their chattering stopped when dark clouds began to cover the sky and wicked laughter rang out.

"That voice is…!" Sora got to her feet.

"Hear me well, all of you. With only the power of eight chosen children and five of your guardians, you cannot thwart the might of our dark powers." Myotismon's voice threatened.

**_To be continued…_**


	17. Castle of darkness

It had started out so differently than Myotismon had anticipated.

Months ago, Sirene's child had secretly followed that fool Demidevimon right to his domain, only to fall through the floor into one of the castle chambers. Myotismon's first instinct was eliminate her on the very spot, until he thought it better to keep her a prisoner, and deliver her to the one who'd given him life.

Naturally, the heir awakened stunned and needless to say, intrigued with him. In the months she was with him, he found himself growing closer, and closer to her than he thought possible…

Sirene's heir had often been on his mind these last few weeks, more so, he was surprised to find, then any of the Chosen children or the other meddling guardians. His thoughts had not even been those of her demise, as they probably ought to have, but rather thoughts of admiration: Admiration for how the least likely had risen through the ranks to become a stronger magical user. Admiration for how Kylie had been able to gain respect from the most feared creatures, admiration for intellectual words of altruism, and admiration for the traits that made her a formidable warrior in her own right. Even the negative traits, such as her self-doubt and her shyness, stood out to the vampire.

He seen her true shape and her varying fairy forms, yet he cared not for her changes, it was Kylie's self that drew him to her.

Myotismon returned to his castle, as he walked past a mirror, a voice called out to him. "Myotismon!"

He turned startled, as a pair of glowing, pink eyes with black, cat slit pupils stared out, before the reflection of him was replaced by a woman.

"Mother!" Myotismon bowed, crossing his arm over his chest.

"What has happened!? The Crest of Love, I can feel its power activated!" Lady Despair rages, clutching her head. "It burns even here in the human world!"

"Demidevimon had failed to take care of the children," Myotismon tried to explain. "And when I got there..."

"Don't blame DemiDevimon for your own failures!" Lady Despair snaps. "You should've done it yourself, but I know the truth!" She narrows her eyes at him. "You were too focused on the Heir of Sirene!"

Myotismon looks up in alarm.

"Oh, don't think you can hide things from me, Myotismon. Mothers see all." Lady Despair points at him. "Get here to the human world, I've discovered the city the 8th child is living in...we must hurry, you must bring your forces here. Strand those children and the guardians in the digital world. We can't have them interfering in our plans."

She placed her hands on the mirror, leaning over with a frown. "Understand, Myotismon? The schedule's been pushed ahead, I need you here. NOW!"

And with that, Lady Despair vanished from the mirror.

* * *

Meanwhile, the the group was still by the the creek Garudamon had taken them the previous evening. Zaira using her filter with Beth while Tai and Joe were filling some of the water.

Mimi spoke up from her spot next to Palmon. "Now that Myotismon appeared, we'll probably have to keep running like we did with Etemon."

"Well, that's true…" Joe said thoughtfully then looked to Tai.

"Now if we beat him at his own game." Zaira pointed out. "We'll just have to use his weaknesses against him. He might be a digimon but he's still a vampire."

"Yeah, we'd just be laying low for the time being." added Tai.

"We'll all prepare to take him down." Palmon reassured Mimi.

Beth reminded. "Don't forget, we already have at least five of us guardians that achieved new transformations we'll put to good use the next time we face him."

"That's right."

Then Izzy ran up nearly out of breath informing them that Gennai has appeared and wished to speak to them all. As before, Gennai has appeared to them via holographic projection.

"I have both good news and bad news, so which would you like to hear first?"

"I'd like to say leave the good news for last, but…" Joe began.

"We'll end up disappointed either way, so let's hear the good news first." Matt decided.

"Okay. Then I'll start with something positive. The truth is, I've found a new comrade of the Chosen children." Gennai told them.

"A comrade? As in another a Chosen Child?" Sora inquired.

Gennai confirmed, "Yes. After much research I have discovered that there truly eight Chosen Children altogether."

The group was stunned by the news.

"If there's another one of you then that means there's another Digimon who's on our side?" Pyokomon questioned.

Kylie gasped softly, "So that's what Myotismon meant when he said that the power of seven Chosen children would not be enough…"

Gennai informed. "Yes, most important fact to know is that if you're not all together, the distortions in this world won't be straightened out. That also includes the distortions in your world. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Kylie and the guardians nodded.

"I wonder what that person is like." T.K. looked excited to meet their new team member.

"Yes, I hope I can meet our new friend soon!" Mimi was equally enthusiastic.

Gennai added, "I've been in contact with the Dark Spectre Queen of your world, where she discovered the child, and is protecting them."

Tai frowned in surprise. "I met her with Theo when we went back to Earth," he said. "She mentioned to us about the force behind Myotismon and the others."

Gennai frowned. "Yes, Lady Despair. And that's the bad news, she knows about the child plots to find this child, and kill them before they can be used to defeat Myotismon, due to her needing him to conquer the Digital World and your world. But it seems the Dark Spectre Queen's magic are stronger then hers, since her black magic can't find the child."

"Who are they, we must know!" Kylie said intensely.

Everyone's faces grew rigid with anxiety.

"I fear she wouldn't reveal it to me." Gennai told them, causing them to groan in disbelief. "She worries that Lady Despair might be listening into the connection we have, but if you manage to get to the Human world, she just might tell you in person."

"So now we have an extremely powerful and dangerous dark sorceress, with an army of evil digimon searching for a child somewhere on Earth." Beth said.

"I'm afraid it's not somewhere," Gennai said in uneasy tone. "I believe she's been...'sleazing' around your home town."

That caused Tai, Matt and the others to react in alarm.

"She's in our home!?" Matt shouted in fear.

"And worse," Gennai said. "She plans to bring Myotismon into your world, and have him help in STALKING the poor child like a hunter a bird in the forest."

Zaira's eyes widened, "He's going to Japan?! The ministry's going to put a price on our skin!"

"Japan? Where is that?" Gabumon inquired.

"It's in the world where Tai and the others all came from." Agumon explained to him.

"And if he gets to Earth, his own presence could cause mass panic for both magical and no maj communities!" Beth yelped, "One of the worst breach to the statute of secrecy!"

Kylie looked worried then a light-bulb clicked. "Wait, I know where Myotismon's castle is!"

* * *

The group knew they would be needing spies on the inside. So Agumon and Palmon go in disguise as recruits for Myotismon's army, and are accepted for training by Nanimon.

Meanwhile, in his chambers Myotismon was perusing through a book of dark magic in his chambers, when a knock sounded at the door.

"Enter." Myotismon called out.

DemiDevimon appeared as the doors opened by their own, and cautiously stepped into the room.

"Lord Myotismon, potential soldiers are streaming in from everywhere." Demidevimon reported.

"Will they be useful for my mother?" Myotismon inquired.

"P-probably." DemiDevimon said nervously.

A girlish giggle came from the shadows. "As if you can call THAT an army!"

Demidevimon glanced around wildly. "Who's there?!"

The speaker walked out of the shadows from behind him. It was a white cat wearing large lime yellow and red striped gloves with black claws sticking out of them. Her ears are large with tufts of purple hair on the tips reminiscent of a caracal. Her tail has purple stripes with a tuft on the end and a golden ring around it. She was Gatomon, Myotismon's lieutenant.

"You plan on making a second string army with a ratty bunch like that?" She taunted.

Demidevimon was indignant. "Hey, don't say that!"

"What you want to fight?" Gatomon challenged, her paws on her hips.

Myotismon stood up, silencing them both. "That's enough. More importantly, Gatomon have you found anyone useful?"

"Yes sire, just as you've ordered I've searched everywhere and recruited only a number of Digimon that posses extraordinary powers." Gatomon replied by kneeling.

"I look forward to seeing how impressive they are." The vampire replied.

Gatomon nodded once. "Yes, sir."

Behind her Demidevimon growled angrily. Then a Bakemon came through the bookshelves. "Excuse me for interrupting Lord Myotismon."

"What is it?" Myotismon folded his arms.

"The stone room is ready for your inspection." The Bakemon answered.

Myotismon turned back to his minions. "You two can go."

"Sir," they bowed once then walked out.

Then Myotismon walked up to the bookcase to a small vault with two side levers, however when he lifted them both what opened was not a vault but a secret room.

With a low creaking sound, the bookshelves slid apart. Appearing behind them was a pitch-black staircase that led to an underground stone room. Pushing back his cape, Myotismon walked down the stone steps into an enormous chamber with a great steel door. A door that was a gate that connected this world to other worlds.

Myotismon faced the stone slate that stood in the middle of the room.

The middle of the slate was divided by a box of 3 x 3, with a sign of ∴ on its left and three different shapes carved into its right side boxes. Above the boxes were pictures of a lion, an archer, and a monkey. Within each box, going down, were an increasing number of stars.

* * *

Out in the castle courtyard, Agumon and Palmon are aided by Sukamon, Chuumon, and some Numemon and Vegiemon who are also part of Nanimon's group of overworked henchmen, find a way in for the group by luring Nanimon with sake (Japanese rice wine).

Back outside the group was on edge waiting for Agumon and Palmon's signal. The guardians were already transformed and ready to fly the children and digimon up inside if need be. Fortunately some familiar long vines dropped out a tower window.

"Sorry for the wait!" Palmon apologized from the window.

"All right!" Tai exclaimed, running forwards.

"Then that's our cue!" Beth nods once, she and the girls flew over.

"I won't be able to contact you inside the castle, so you're on your own." Gennai called out to them.

"Sure, you can count on us!" Tai had a thumbs up as he and Mimi were the first to be pulled up.

"Remember, stop Myotismon's plans and protect your comrade in Japan!"

"Alright, who's next to be flown upwards?" Theo asked the others.

* * *

Deep in the castle, within Myotismon's chambers, with its curtains drawn all the way, was naturally faintly dark, and had a musty smell. The vampire had several cards on the table that he was analyzing critically.

"The key is within my grasp. After understanding the meaning hidden within these cards, they must be placed in the appropriate order. Then the door to the other worlds will open." He then smirked wickedly. "Guardians, Chosen Children. No matter how hard you struggle, it is already too late."

* * *

Once inside the castle, the group split up trying to find the right way to the gate.

Although the hallways were not narrow, there were no straight corners that could be called corners, giving the feeling that they were trapped inside. If someone who did not know this entered the castle, they would get lost immediately and be driven insane.

"I'm starting to feel like we're in a M.C. Escher painting." Zaira remarks grimly.

"Kylie, you've been here before. Don't you know where to go?" Sora asked her.

"Not really." Kylie admits. "I was never allowed this far into the castle."

This would be a lot harder than they thought.

* * *

"Get ready for departure. Gather all of the soldiers to the stone room!" Myotismon ordered his minions.

"Yes, sir!" Gatomon and Demidevimon nodded and left to comply.

Myotismon then mused to himself, "I've made many preparations to accomplish my greatest aspiration… but to think they will be useful this very moment. First comes the eighth Chosen Child, their remains will act as the foundation for my ambitions! Sirene's heir… her mortal limitations can be remedied, but I'll make her my mate yet."

However a darkened mirror, a familiar face stepped into view with a scoff. "You are smitten with that child," Lady Despair said in disdain. "The daughter of that wretched Nymph! Of all the maidens for you to desire, and it's her!?"

"Mother, would it not be poetic justice?" Myotismon tried to persuade his creator. "For Sirene's heir to be corrupted, and become my bride!"

"She would never have you, Darling Boy. She has a heart warm enough to melt nifelheim, and adores those Chosen brats as if they were her own offspring. She'd sooner be a martyr, than your bride, so just give up on her!"

However that was the very last thing Myotismon intended to do.

* * *

"This castle is very strange." Izzy was saying to the Guardians and the other children. "The airspace in here must be distorted and warped."

"This isn't the first time we've seen this world acting weird." Tai reminded them

"But this place is particularly weirder than the rest." Matt pointed out. "Most likely because of Myotismon's powers."

Zaira looked around. "It would make sense hypothetically speaking, the place might've been designed to keep intruders out or stuck until they're dealt with."

Gomamon had paused, listening. "Someone's coming!"

They all peered over the walkway to see line of intimidating Digimon, ones intended for Myotismon's army. There was great number of Bakemon among them.

"That's an awful lot of grunts…" Theo muttered.

"They're getting ready to leave." Matt correctly surmised.

"We better follow them!" Sora suggested.

"Right! Let's go!" Tai said.

Hurriedly they following after the army, hoping they were not too late.

Within the stone room, the Digimon that Gatomon had recruited from different lands were all lined up, waiting for orders to depart. Standing in front of the stone slate with an unperturbed look on his face, Myotismon was giving a speech. "Heed me. Our target is the Eighth Chosen Child. Find him and destroy him. Shroud everything in darkness with the power of darkness!"

Cheers of agreement rang throughout the stone room.

Myotismon placed the cards upon the stone slate and raised his arms, chanting a strange spell. "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius!"

The stack of cards floated into the air as if they were being arranged by an invisible hand, separated, and fit themselves neatly into all nine spaces within the stone slate. The door that connected them to another world, the door that gave a few horrible omen of death, slowly opened towards them.

"It's time to depart!" Gatomon called out.

Obeying her orders, the Digimon passed one by one through the gate.

"Wait!" Tai yelled out. "You won't get away with this!"

"We won't let you go to our world!" shouted Zaira.

The Chosen Children came charging down the spiral staircase with the five guardians flying above them.

But Myotismon did not appear to be in the least worried. "So you're finally here. But it's too late. Look well upon this historic moment! Unfortunately I don't have the time right now to concern myself with you. DemiDevimon."

"Sir!"

"Silence them. However, if so much as a scratch is laid upon Sirene's child, I'll personally clip your wings."

Demidevimon yelped, "Understood!"

As someone who loved darkness and detested the light, Myotismon shielded himself from that light with his cape. And, as if to escape from it, he dove into the coffin that was prepared within the carriage pulled by Devidramon, closing the lid over him.

Before vanishing into his carriage, Myotismon blew a farewell kiss to Kylie.

'Welcome back, my darling...I'll see you again soon.' he'd whispered into her mind.

Kylie just about almost dropped to the ground with shock, even more so when Demidevimon had frantically yelled at the mediocre rear guard that their orders were not to harm 'Lord Myotismon's future bride.'

While Nanimon's group was facing down the chosen children's digimon and five of the guardians, Gatomon had been briefly delayed.

"Will you be alright by yourself?" Wizardmon asked Gatomon worriedly.

"I'll be fine," Gatomon answered calmly, the ring on her swaying tail clinking. "Go on."

"Understood. Let us meet in the other world." Saying that, Wizardmon headed for the gate.

Just before he passed through, he glanced back one last time. It wasn't to check on Gatomon. No, it was because he wanted to carve into his memory every shape of this world that he may never again return to, of this Digital World that had led him to his fateful meeting with Gatomon.

Of course, being faced down with six full grown champion levels and five spell casters had sent Nanimon and his crew fleeing for their lives.

"The Gate is closing!" Sora cried.

"Playtime is over! Let's go!" Tai yelled.

"One side!" Gatomon had jumped in front of Demidevimon. "Honestly… I can't stand watching this anymore."

Kylie fluttered downwards with a weary sigh. "Hello Gatomon."

The white cat digimon met her gaze stoically. "I'd been wondering whether you'd actually show up."

"Aww, a kitty!" Dana smiled.

Joe moved his hands in a dismissive gesture towards Gatomon. "Another small digimon showed up. Shoo, shoo. Get out of the way. You don't want to get hurt, do you?"

None of the others knew Gatomon's strength. It was hard to imagine that her small, innocent-looking frame had gone through many a bloody battlefield.

"Oh so you're underestimating me," Gatomon said looking slightly miffed. "Watch this."

Greymon gave her a light swipe with his hand, but Gatomon dodged that swing and landed on his chest. It looked as if she only touched Greymon lightly. But power that was unimaginable from its appearance attacked Greymon and, was blown off his feet.

"Don't be fooled! She's much stronger than she looks." Kylie warned.

Kabuterimon, Birdramon, Ikkakumon and the others pulled into alert, fighting stances. Even so, Gatomon's continuous Cat Punches brought them down. Dana had tried catching her into her arms as one would a pet, only for the cat Digimon to burst free slap her away with her tail.

"Never mind her, and get to the gate!" Beth yelled.

"Let's go!" Tai called out, and they all dashed for the gate as Togemon and Garurumon attacked Gatomon.

But Gatomon spotted them to her irritation, and landed on the floor.

"You're not getting away!" Gatomon cried out.

The golden ring around her tail glowed brightly. The gargoylish figures called Devidramon suddenly came to life.

"What is going on?" cried Dana.

The beasts snarled furiously at the children. The guardians rushed to their defense, Theo immediately flung a fireball at the monster, but it smacked the ball back with its claws. The fireball sizzled over to the guardians, knocking them out of the air. The five fairies crashed into the rubble on the floor.

"GARTHIM!" Gatomon hollered.

Immediately, the flea-crab hybrid statues all over the room suddenly stirred much like the Devidramons have. Their eyes glowed a deep, dark purple, and strange appendages on their chests moved, making a chittering sound. And they moved, falling off their alcoves and crashing to the ground in front of the group.

"Ahhhh! What are those things!?" Mimi cried out.

Kylie froze, her chest rising and falling as she gasped in fear.

"Kylie? Kylie!" Theo cried out, shaking her arm. "What is it!?"

"_GARTHIM!_" Kylie cried out, her voice overlapped by another's.

"What?" Tai and the others looked at her in shock.

"What in the Universe?! I thought these things were from Thra!" Dana yelled in utter disbelief.

"Golem creations of Lady Despair!" Kylie said in her own voice. "Keep away, keep away!"

Zaira frowned, and delivered an electric spell against the creatures. Only for her spell to fail, much to her own shock.

"It didn't work!?" Zaira cried out.

"They're impervious to primary forms of magic," Kylie yelled out. "Too strong, only one weak spot on their chests, unrelenting!"

"Leave them to us!" Garurumon declared. "Hurry to the gate!"

Patamon flew ahead to the gate and was fighting with Demidevimon.

"If we don't hurry, the gate will close!" he cried.

"I know!" Tai said irritably, and clenched his Crest.

Seeing him attempt to evolve his partner to Perfect level, Gatomon decided that it was time for her to leave. She swiftly swatted Patamon away before running back to the gate.

"Sorry, I can't let you pass!" Gatomon said.

"You can't be serious!" Kylie yelled flying forwards.

"KYLIE!" Theo cried out.

She grabbed Kylie, pulling her out of the way, as a Garthim lunged at her, it's gnarled hand grasping and claw hand snapping.

"Don't be so crabby, Guardians." Gatomon mocked with a hissing laugh. "It's nothing personal, princess. You're much better off here in your birthplace anyway."

There was only a small gap when DemiDevimon rushed through, with Gatomon already standing past the threshold ready to visit Earth.

"Be seeing you." Gatomon taunted before the gate closed.

Tai dove forwards with a yell but it was too late. He crashed against it and fell back with the children catching him.

"N–No way…"

"No…"

"We were so close!"

Tai ran back to the door, pounding his fist on it in desperation. "If we don't do something, the eighth child…!"

Beth was stunned. "Now we're all in big trouble, Myotismon and his goons are in Japan and he's probably going to start enslaving no majs and magical beings as we speak…"

Zaira glowered. "Thanks Boss, for the cheery little update."

**_To be continued…_**


	18. The Gateway home

The heroic group was dumbfounded.

It was their chance to return to their world. It was their duty to protect the eighth child. Tai banged his fists against it in frustration and despair. But the door wouldn't budge. The sounds of the boy's fists only rang throughout the stone room in vain. And the remaining creatures in the room were intent on destroying them.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted Matt.

"Right now!" added Zaira.

Their frantic escape had felt like a blur, they were back outside the castle and its walls back a clearing as they talked to Gennai. The girls had changed back and slumped on the ground, exhausted from the adrenaline fuel. Kylie was the only who sounded like she was dry heaving.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked. "How did you know about those creatures?"

Kylie rubbed her face, looking on the verge of tears. "Because...I remember, Lady Despair sent them to track me and my mother down." She then paused in utter confusion. "I mean, I think I remember...it's like someone pen-sieved the memory into my head."

The young woman frowned. "My mother tried, but her powers didn't work against them," Kylie continued, trembling. "They cornered us in, I think a building, and...And..." She moaned in misery, head downwards. "That's all I can remember. Why? Why?!"

Why did these memories just have to come rushing back her while she's both lovesick for Myotismon AND frustrated with not doing her job right as a guardian?!

"I see you were so close. That's too bad." Gennai said.

Matt argued. "Just saying it's 'too bad' won't cut it! The eighth child will die if we stay here for one more day!"

"That's not all! If those Digimon run loose, they'll create massive chaos throughout our country!" agreed Sora.

Beth addressed Gennai, "Please sir, isn't there a way to open the gate again? We need to get back ASAP!"

"Of course there is."

Everyone's faces brightened.

"I can't simply explain it. You'll also be needing the tools that will help you."

He instructed them to come to his house, telling them to look closely around them. Patamon flew upwards and spotted a searchlight. No doubt Gennai was signaling them from his abode.

The group followed the light to small lake right outside the forest, except the lights were shining from underwater. Just then the water parted revealing stone steps leading to a Japanese mansion sitting at the uncovered bottom of the lake and the white body of a robot next to it.

They found Gennai standing on a small bridge atop a pond with his back to them.

"I see you've made it here safely."

"Is that really him?" Tai questioned.

"Yes." Izzy responded.

"Hey, Gramps! There's something I wanna ask you!" Tai then said abruptly to Gennai. The older girls gave him disapproving looks.

"What is it?"

"Why didn't you come meet us directly after all this time?"

"I like staying at home." Gennai replied, stepping off the bridge and walking towards them.

"Just who are you, anyway?" asked Joe.

"A human? Or are you a Digimon?" T.K. added.

Wizard or squib? Dana asked.

"Neither." Gennai shook his head.

He turned his attention to Kylie, "Hm. You've grown up smaller than I thought...strong... and healthy."

"Y-you know me?" Kylie exclaimed.

"Of course, your mother made contact with me and my brothers a long time ago," Gennai answered. "We were the digital world's 'RESPONSE' if you will, when your mother first came to our world, and I knew her for well over three thousand years before her...tragic end."

Kylie dropped her gaze, the other shifted uncomfortably.

"I am surprised that you remember so little... but then, you were so much younger than the Chosen children when it happened." Gennai had added with a tired sigh.

"Why are we called Chosen children?" Mimi interrupted.

"It means that you are children who were chosen to save both this world and your own."

"But who chose us?" Matt questioned.

"Was it you, Mr. Gennai?" Sora consulted.

However the old man shook his head, he didn't chose them. "That's enough questions, what you must do is save your eighth comrade before something happens to them, now come inside."

Just as the door closed behind them, the two halves of the parted lake came together once more, encasing them underwater.

"Let me show you to the guest room. We have food ready and waiting for you there, so you can rest easy."

"It's like we're on a school trip," Joe said after eating his fill and rubbing his full stomach.

"An old wound in my back was giving me pain," Gennai answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I couldn't leave the barrier, I'm sorry to say."

Zaira, who'd been sitting with the other listening attentively, winced as her eyes briefly flashed a bright purple. This meant she was having a premonition.

_In her mind's eyes she saw a young man from the back and a gloved white hand with a red sleeve insert some small black orb into the small of the man's back which caused the man physical pain. Was that Gennai? But who was that?_

"It's impolite to peer into your host's past, Zaira." Gennai lightly scolds.

Zaira looked surprised.

"It's alright. I know you have little control over it." Gennai said reassuringly.

"Thanks…I think." The guardian of thunder replied.

Gennai walked to the wall facing the group then a large projector screen that displayed a map of Earth came down. "Take a look at this." He then held out a hand with the color and rising sun of Japan and tapped the picture with it. With the tap, the image zoomed in a map of Japan.

"It's Japan." Izzy noted.

Again another tap it zoomed in to the Tokyo Metropolitan area.

"It's Tokyo." Mimi piped up.

With the final tap, a red circle appeared and flashed on the map.

"That looks like the Nerima district." Kylie observed.

Gennai nodded. "This is currently where Myotismon is located."

Tai and Matt's eyes widened with recognition to the point where they leaned forwards. "What is it?" Tai looked to Matt.

Matt replied. "No… it's nothing important… what about you?"

"No, nothing special. It's just that, that place is Hikarigaoka." Tai answered looking back at the map.

"Hikarigaoka?" The group of seven questioned.

The older five girls looked at each other questioningly.

"Now why does that ring a bell?" Dana wondered.

* * *

Back in Japan, it was still morning. However strange were already happening as one electric crew was fixing the street light, they noticed something odd. The lights were acting up but as they checked… there appeared to nothing wrong.

The reason for this was because some familiar shadowy figures have made their way to Earth.

In an abandoned building Myotismon and his forces had arrived, the carriage pulled to a stop in a darkened room, lit only by torches with blue flames. Myotismon's coffin floated out, and came to a stop. It opened and Myotismon came out, and when his feet hit the floor, a figure appeared out of the shadows.

It was a woman. She wore a bright pink dress, with slits to reveal her legs up to her knees, and a long, black feather boa wrapped around her person. She held a scepter, which was silver with a hand like mount on the top, holding a black horned crystal skull, with two spiral horns on the top of the skull. The woman was striking, with her angelic, golden hair, but her fingernails were replaced with sharp, curved black talons, and her eyes glowed bright pink, with vertical slit pupils like a cats.

"My precious one." The woman proclaimed.

"Who's that human?" Demidevimon asked clueless.

"Fool! That's Lady Despair, not a human," Gatomon hissed. "She created Myotismon from her mystic blood and is an immensely powerful sorceress of dark power."

The discussion was unheard, as Myotismon kneeling down, grasped at his mother's free hand. And placed a respectful kiss on the back of her hand. "My Lady, it is incredible to bask in the dark presence of your personage again."

"Still a flattering and silver tongue devil, aren't you, my beloved child?" Lady Despair chuckled.

Sierra lifted him to his feet, and wrapped him into a loving embrace. "And now here you are in the human world," she breathed in joy. "With me by your side, you will be the most powerful king, we will conquer the world, all the way to the Forest of Burzee. And you will bleed those immortal fools dry, so you will become immortal and rule this world after I return to my Dark Empire."

* * *

In the Digiworld, Gennai had lead the group into a room full of archive drawers. He opened one, pulled something out and placed the objects before them. They were cards, ten with ten different digimon on them: Kuwagamon, Agumon, Gazimon, Andromon, Elecmon, Unimon, Digitamamon, Drimogemon, ShogunGekomon, and Gomamon.

"Do you remember seeing nine holes in the slate in front of the Gate?" Gennai then asked the group.

"Um…" Izzy looked thoughtful before confirming. "Yes, there was!"

"You need to place these cards into those holes."

"But you gave us one card too many."

"There's one card I'm not sure of that is mixed in."

"Which do we use for each?" asked Tai.

"Well… I don't know that either."

His response made the kids, their digimon and the guardians groan.

"Oh well. We'll just put the cards in random order and go with that." Tai shrugged, only to be suddenly grabbed from behind by a frantic Gennai.

"You can't do that! The consequences will be worse! You could get thrown into unknown worlds!"

"Do that many worlds really exist?" questioned Mimi.

The five guardians promptly facepalmed in annoyance.

"We already told you there's more than kingdom in the Etherium!" Beth retorted.

Gennai added. "There's also the danger that you may not be perfectly restored on the other side!"

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked.

Gennai let go of Tai and explained. "Well for example, there's a good chance you could end up switching skin with your respective Digimon."

The mental image sent Mimi into a fit of wails. "I don't want that to happen! No no no no no no no…"

Zaira shrugged. "I don't know, I wouldn't mind have a cool exoskeleton like Tentomon."

Beth grunted, "Are you done yet, Mimada?!"

"That's why, unlike Myotismon who did this by speaking an incantation, you will need to solve this with your own abilities." Gennai said to them.

"But there are so many things that are unknown to us." Joe said.

"Anyway, here are the cards." Gennai gave them to Tai. "Relax and enjoy yourselves tonight. The enemy won't attack you here."

* * *

That night everyone but Izzy and Kylie were asleep. The ten year old boy was tired, but like Kylie there were so many things that he wanted to ask Gennai.

"The Digital World appears similar to ours, but it's strange in places. Its laws of physics are a mess. Why is that?"

They were in Gennai's studio, with various machine parts and prototype models scattered across the wooden floor. The walls were made of long panels of resin.

Gennai had his hands folded behind him. "Do you know what this world is made up of? It's something that is equivalent to the atoms and molecules of your world."

"Data, right?" Izzy asked.

"Yes. Everything in this world is made up of the data that runs through the computer networks in your world. That's why if you encounter anything strange here, that's because there is something faulty or missing within the data."

Kylie looked around. "But if that's true how could all that data become so many diverse and sentient life forms? And my being born here…Even with logical reasoning I feel it does not make sense."

Gennai turned to Kylie and tapped his own head once. "Up here perhaps it does not. Logic and science is so logical. However, it fails to answer the why and reasoning behind the creation. In the beginning everything in the Digiworld was basic and primitive before your mother's arrival."

"So, you really did know her," Kylie said softly. "Tell me, what was she like?"

Gennai sighed nostalgically. "Sirene was not only a singularly gifted nymph, but an uncommonly kind woman that dearly loved nature and children. She had a way of seeing the beauty in both mon and beasts. When you were born, she'd longed to raise you in the Digiworld before introducing you to her fellow nymphs…"

Kylie drops her gaze. Izzy looked self-conscious, the conversation was hitting a little too close to home. Yet he and Kylie needed to know.

"How do you know the Dark Spectre Queen?"

Gennai looked solemn. "When your mother was...killed, and my fellow siblings were slain as well," Gennai lowered his head. "I was despondent, and lost in a way...and that's her realm. The Dark Spectre Queen knows ALL things lost, and when I was weeping, lost and alone from the losses I suffered, she contacted me. She told me what the future held through her magic mirror, and helped to ensure you ended up with the right family after your grandfather's death."

_So they helped her get adopted by the Pantheon family._ Izzy thought

"We have been in contact ever since, five thousand years in the Digital World, and we both never stopped keeping an eye over you as you grew up." Gennai continued.

Kylie closed her eyes and bowed respectfully. "And I thank you both. Regardless of what anyone says or thinks, you both indirectly helped me find true friends."

"Gennai, are you...also Data?" Izzy asked. "You said you were...born, in response to Sirene coming to this world."

"Yes, but I am different from the digimon. Since I have no attribute." Gennai answered.

"An attribute?" Izzy questioned.

Kylie listened carefully, she didn't want to miss anything from this conversation.

Gennai continued. "Although this world is created by data, Digimon are further classified by the attributes Data, Virus, and Vaccine. By the way, is the Digimon Analyzer useful to you?"

"Yes." Izzy nodded brightly. "But there is something that's been bothering me."

"What is that?"

Izzy then held out his open laptop. "This only contains the data of Digimon that I've met. I can't view the information of Digimon that the others have seen."

"I see."

"Could you do something about it?"

"Yes. Now, it's late so you two should get some rest. But before you do, I want to borrow your laptop to add some convenient functions to it."

Izzy agreed. "Yes sir."

Kylie nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

And so, the morning came. Before breakfast, everyone folded up the blankets that made up their beds. No one had instructed them to. After seeing Matt start it, everyone else followed suit.

Sitting comfortably, they all waited for Gennai to begin speaking. The Digivice apparently had a function that logged information of the Digimon they had met so far. By attaching a Digivice to Izzy's laptop, the information inside of it would display in the Digimon Analyzer program that had been installed into the laptop.

"It maybe be tough for you, Chosen Children, Guardians, but have faith in your abilities."

"The abilities of the Chosen Children?" Joe slammed his face into the table.

"Nice to have a support of the younger generation." Zaira said sarcastically upon seeing Joe's pessimistic attitude.

"Have some faith!" Sora scolded Joe.

"I'm sorry I can't be of any further use. Now go! I wish you luck."

"Okay!"

The group answered and prepared to leave. However as they were about to step out Gennai gave them parting advice about Vanessa. "Water is her domain, even if she can't come into the digital world," Gennai explains. "She can talk to you through water, and exert some influence. Once in the human world, you can most definitely call her for aid and she'll come."

"Right, thank you for your help." Beth smiled and nodded.

Sneaking back into the castle had been no easy task, there were still left over Devidramon from the last time. MegaKabuterimon fights off the last of the guards and the group begins working on figuring out the order of the cards.

As they stood there at a loss, Izzy's eyes landed on the cards scattered on the floor. He looked at the stone slate next, at the pictures of the lion, archer, and monkey, and the three sets of stars. Each of the nine cards had a different design.

Drawing a box on the ground, Tai tried out his idea first. Looking at how he laid out each card in the nine boxes, Joe asked, "What's that?"

"Good guys, bad guys, dirty guys."

"That can't be it."

This time Joe knelt down to try it out. "Small ones, medium size, big ones."

Next was Matt. He divided them up based on strength. Sora separated them by habitat, and Mimi by the number of letters in their names. Neither Sora's nor Mimi's choices even fit three by three. They kept going by turns, until Joe, after watching this for a moment, stood up. "It's no use."

"No, don't say that," Mimi protested, looking ready to cry.

But Joe said calmly, "We have no basis that any of these are correct."

At that moment there a rumbling from outside the chamber.

"Wh-What's that sound?" asked T.K.

"I don't know." Matt answered.

"That's not an earthquake is it?" Theo inquired fearfully.

"I'll go take a look!" Patamon flew out of T.K.'s arms to investigate.

"Hang on, I'm going with you!" Dana called. She spread her wings to follow him.

They returned looking greatly worried.

"We have trouble!" Patamon cried. "The castle is crumbling!"

"It might be my fault!" Motimon winced. "I broke the ceiling earlier!"

"And worse, the Garthim are headed this way!" Dana added.

Patamon nodded. "All of the passages are blocked!"

"So we have to get the cards right if we want to get out of here." Zaira said darkly.

Joe spoke. "Tai."

"Mm?" Tai looked at Joe, who said with an animated look on his face, "I'll leave it to you, Tai."

"W–What's this now?"

"I'm not trying to avoid the responsibility. I trust your judgment."

Matt stood up. "Me too. I'll follow what our leader decides," he said in a bright voice.

"Hey, since when did I become leader?"

"The moment you disappeared on us, we all fell apart. It was you, Tai, who brought us back together again." Matt's words did not have the slightest hint of sarcasm in them. They were coming straight from his heart.

"He's got a point." Theo smiled, lightly elbowing Tai.

"You're okay with that, right?" Joe asked all around.

The guardians, the other children, and of course all of the Digimon nodded in agreement.

"After all we went through and seeing you pulled through, you proved yourself a leader as much as me." Beth smiled. "And I couldn't be prouder."

Regardless of whether or not he thought of himself the right person to be leader, he wanted to answer to everyone's unanimous feelings. How he had learned the gratefulness of friends for the first time when he had been depressed over his mistakes with SkullGreymon also played a part in it. Believing in one another was what made friends, friends.

"Okay." Tai took the cards and faced the slate.

He did not intend to run from the heavy responsibility of carrying everyone's lives in his hands. But no matter how hard he glared at the slate, he could not come up with a good solution. Tai tried to think of it as a soccer match.  
This was the chance for a free kick that would turn the score around. The cards were the ball, and this stone slate was the goal. Everyone's eyes were on him as he prepared for the , where should he kick? If he knew the goalkeeper's habits, he would use them to his advantage. But here, he did not know. He could leave it to chance, but if there was someone out there who knew that goalkeeper's quirks, he could ask him… "Izzy."

Hearing Tai call his name in the moment that would decide their destinies gave Izzy a little start. "W–What is it?"

"Can I ask what order you would put these cards?"

"O–Oh no… are you asking me to decide?" Izzy asked sounding.

But Tai said, "Ever since we got here, we've relied on your intelligence to get through a tough spot. I can't ignore that in what could possibly be our last moment."

All eyes turned to Izzy. But instead of feeling anguished by their gaze, Izzy instead felt encouragement. In each of their eyes, he could see that they all acknowledged him as the rightful tactician.

Before now, before he had come to the Digital World, Izzy had considered himself an insignificant and worthless human being. He knew computers, but what use was that? Even he was aware that he stuck out like a sore thumb in class, and he had thought that even if he wasn't around, the world would still go on.

It wasn't completely unrelated to the moment when Izzy found out the secret of his birth. When he was very young, he had heard his parents talking quietly to themselves in the drawing room when he was heading to the bathroom one night. From those few words he'd heard, Izzy knew that he was not his parents' child.

He didn't know who he belonged to. His very existence itself was uncertain as Kylie's had been months ago. He didn't know how to approach his parents and naturally grew timid about interacting with other people. But right now, right here, Izzy was someone that everyone needed. "Okay. I'll do it."

Izzy changed his feelings of anxiety into confidence, a tentative willingness to believe in his own abilities. Now then…  
If there was a rule that these nine cards must follow, then he must first learn what these nine cards meant. In other words, he needed the information of the Digimon on these cards. Digimon information… Digimon information… That's right, he'll use the Digimon Analyzer that Gennai had given to him. Izzy knelt to the floor and booted up his laptop computer.  
Wondering what he was up to, the others watched Izzy's every move.

Gomamon – Marine Mammal Digimon, Child Level, Vaccine  
Kuwagamon — Insect Digimon, Adult Level, Virus  
Andromon — Cyborg Digimon, Perfect Level, Vaccine  
Unimon — Mythical Beast Digimon, Adult Level, Vaccine  
Elecmon — Mammal Digimon, Child Level, Data  
Drimogemon – Beast Digimon, Adult Level, Data  
Gazimon — Mammal Digimon, Child Level, Virus

That was as far as he knew. But the data for Digitamamon and ShogunGekomon was not in Izzy's Digivice. That was because he hadn't met them.

"Has someone here met Digitamamon and ShogunGekomon?"

"Ah, me," Joe said, and handed Izzy his Digivice.

When he connected it to his laptop, the information popped out.

Digitamamon — Perfect Digimon, Perfect Level, Data

ShogunGekomon — Amphibian Digimon, Perfect Level, Virus

As he compared everything, Izzy noticed a certain rule. They were all cleanly divided between data, virus, and vaccine, and Child, Adult, and Perfect levels. He imagined the lion, archer, and monkey in his head. And then… he used the Digimon Analyzer once more. And he received the information he was looking for.

Leomon – Beast Man Digimon, Adult Level, Vaccine  
Centaurmon — Beast Man Digimon, Adult Level, Data  
Etemon — Puppet Digimon, Perfect Level, Virus

"I've got it!" Izzy cried. "The lion, archer, and monkey each represent Leomon, Centaurmon, and Etemon. Each of them have their own attribute. In other words, vaccine, data, and virus. Next, I believe the number of stars indicate from top to bottom Child level, Adult level, and Perfect level. So if you put the cards according to both categories…"

It was a perfect fit! Everyone clapped and cheered.

Izzy looked embarrassed. "But I'm not sure if it's right or not…" he said, suddenly hesitant.

But no one paid that any attention. It was what Izzy had decided. It was what Tai, who had depended on Izzy to find the answer, had if it was the wrong answer, they were all together. That was better than being alone.

"Okay then, let's go!"

"Yeah!"

Their energetic voices echoed throughout the eerie stone room. Abruptly their cheer was cut short because some dirt fell from the ceiling. When they looked up some giant spider digimon were diving towards them.

"What's that?!" Matt yelled

Izzy checked his laptop. "Dokugmon! Adult-Level Virus Insect Digimon whose entire body is made from a computer virus! His special attack, Stinger Pollination, is released from his sharp fangs!"

"Anyone who damages Lord Myotismon's castle will pay with their lives!" The spider declared. Smaller versions of the spider were rapidly descending as the castle rumbled. The awful clicking sound from the Garthim got louder, now the fiendish crab-beetles could be seen going down the stairs!

"Gomamon digivolve to… IKKAKUMON!"

"Palmon digivolve to… TOGEMON!"

"Gabumon digivolve to… GARURUMON!"

The three Adult-Level Digimon leapt into action with the transformed guardians. The Digimon were fighting the giant spiders while the girls kept trying to herd the Garthim away from the children.

"Do it, Tai! Hurry!" Koromon urged.

The boy gathered the cards and began putting them in the appropriate order according to Izzy's analysis.

"Got to hit the Garthim weak spot!" Dana cried.

"But where?"

"We can't get that close, they'll tear us to pieces!" Kylie hollered back.

Theo brightened, "I got an idea! Yo Togemon, do your thing: we need to hit the Garthim too!"

The cactus acknowledged her words. "Got it! Needle spray!"

Not only did her needles hit many of the Dokugmon attackers but they hit the Garthim right on the chest causing them to fall apart.

"Hey, they're not actual monsters!" T.K. cried in surprise. "They really are just a bunch of hard shell and stuff!"

As the fight grow more intense, Tai now only had two cards left. "Which one is it? Agumon or Gomamon?"

Garurumon became Weregarurumon to even the odds.

"Tai, better pick a card, faster!" Zaira shouted.

"All right, I've got it! Gomamon, open!" Tai placed the card in the open spot.

The gate creaked open.

"Well, let's go, guys!" Tai yelled.

"Time to go!" Beth called out just as Weregarurumon finished off Dokugmon.

All of them ran or flew to the gate. Once again the group found themselves going down the proverbial rabbit hole. To the children and the five older girls, the sparkling rainbow light on the other side appeared to be promising them hope for the future.

* * *

The ground was cold and wet by the time they awoke. There was snow everywhere. They didn't remember right away that there had been a snowstorm just before they had entered the Digital World, and thought for an instant that time had passed and winter had come.

Kylie shivered as she sat up. "Did we make it?"

"W-where are we?" Matt groaned.

"Are we in Japan?" Tai questioned.

They looked around, recognizing the ground and a very familiar structure covered in snow.

Joe stood up on shaky legs. "This cabin…We're on the campgrounds! We made it back!"

Mimi merely began to cry with relief.

"Now I remember. This is where we left for the Digimon world…" Sora said looking at the sky.

Theo turned to the cabin. "Except I'm pretty sure most of the snow's partially melted since the last time we were here."

Beth sat up and began to pat herself down. "Pockets…supplies… Yep, everything's here."

"Hey, wait? Where are our Digimon?" Sora suddenly noticed.

"It couldn't have been a dream, right?" Izzy asked.

Sora's face fell. "Maybe… Maybe it was the wrong card."

"Sora!" Piyomon's voice chirped.

"Or not!"

All seven digimon were standing by the steps of the cabin, they served as solid proof that their adventures in the Digital World had not been a dream.

"Looks like you're all awake." Palmon remarked.

"Where were you guys?" Tai asked.

They all pulled out bushes that had berries on them.

"Looking for food." Gomamon answered.

Joe actually laughed. "Remember you're in our world, you don't need to eat that stuff anymore!"

"You'll be able to eat much tastier things!" Mimi chimed in.

"We're home!" both the kids and the guardians cheered.

"Hey Tai, why didn't you choose my card?" Koromon asked as Tai picked him up.

"Your card? Oh, uh, I wanted to keep it as a souvenir."

"Really?"

Tai quickly changed the subject. "A-Anyway! We should start looking for the eighth chosen child!"

"Yeah. Myotismon already got a head-start." Matt pointed out.

"Hikarigaoka! I'm sure that's where the eighth child is." Tai said determinedly.

Beth took a confident step forward. "Then that's where we're going first, we'll find the eighth child and rescue them!"

"Yeah!" They all shouted.

"But first things first, we've got three guardians of our team that we need to fill in on the quest." Kylie spoke up.

"Hey, you guys!" A familiar voice shouted.

Theo turned and smiled widely, "And that's them now!"

**_To be continued…_**


	19. Discovery in Hikarigaoka

It didn't take them very long to realize that it was still August 1st. Only three hours had passed. Both surprise and joy overcame them at once that they almost forgotten to hide the Digimon from their friends.

Yui, Sara and Haruna were running towards the returning group.

"There you are! What happened?"

"Where were you all for the past two hours?!"

The eight of the Guardians had been best friends for three whole years, even though they were all very different. The redheaded tomboy, Beth Pantheon was the fearless and often unlikely leader. Zaira Baker despite her grim semi-Goth demeanor, was unwaveringly loyal. Streetwise Theo was the fire guardian. Kylie was a shy bookworm with a kind heart. The brainy Sara Goodman, the water guardian, was her best friend. Bouncy haired Yui Kasuga, the guardians of the stars was flighty and caring all at once, Haruna the unconventional prep was the guardian of Earth. And finally, Dana the youngest, who had a way with animals.

"Friends of yours?" asked T.K., sitting up.

"The missing three to eight guardians." Beth smiled, "The ones who were accidentally left behind while we were pulled into the Digiworld."

"Digital World!?" Yui proclaimed. "So, you took a trip down the rabbit hole, huh?"

"Is that where that wave - portal took you?" Sara asked.

"We'll explain everything." Kylie stepped up, "But first we need to get to Hikarigaoka as soon as possible."

"I still can't believe that we're back." Mimi said with great relief.

"Yeah, well, don't get too relieved yet. We still have to deal with Myotismon." Matt reminded.

"Should we be worried about these talking critters?" Sara G asked Kylie.

"Critter?" Patamon pouts. "I was told I was quite handsome, though I was Angemon when I noticed it."

Kylie explained. "Girls, you already know the seven children, no doubt. The little lifeforms with them are digimon, sentient creatures created by both data and a magical source."

"We'll get to that later." Theo piped up.

"Hey!" Koromon suddenly spoke up. "How do we get to Hikarigaoka?"

"I've got an idea." Tai informed.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Hikarigaoka District, Nerima Ward mainly, Myotismon's forces have already gone out in search for the eighth child. From the roof of their temporary hideout, Gatomon and Demidevimon were observing the view.

"So the eighth child is near here?" Gatomon wondered.

"Yeah. Isn't that right, Lord Myotismon?" DemiDevimon asked, turning to his Master. "Er –something wrong, sir?"

The moment he'd turned around, he and Gatomon could see that the vampire was shielding himself in the shadows of the rooftops, almost slumped against the wall.

"Unfortunately, until the sun sets, I must wait in the world of darkness."

"My poor darkling..." Lady Despair kneeling over her heaving offspring.

"What's wrong with him?" Gatomon asked.

"He's not used to this world's summer season, its sun seems to have a drastically weakening effect on him." Lady Despair replied, without sparing her a glance.

"Begin the search without me. Here." Myotismon tossed to Gatomon a tag with a pink crest. The symbol

Gatomon catches it. "You can count on me, Lord Myotismon."

"I will take him underground until sundown," Lady Despair add. "I will have to find a spell to shield him from sunlight if we wish to have the advantage. Find the 8th child and don't tarry!"

She then descends down the stairs and leaves with Myotismon. Demidevimon tries to follow after them only to slam right into the door as it closed.

* * *

The buses boarded with children leaving for Odaiba. Summer camp was cancelled because of the unexpected snowstorm, so rather than stick to the original plan of sleeping over for the night, they had decided to head back for home.

However, Tai had to put his plan into action. With the guardians offering to look after the eighth children and get them home safely, it was easy enough to convince Mr. Fujiyama to drop them off at Hikarigaoka.

Once inside the bus, Beth and the older girls informed the other three a quick summary of their adventures and what needed to be done. Some of the larger digimon were in the overhead bins with the luggage.

Izzy checked his laptop to see if the digimon analyzer still works. "It's alright. It's still working properly in this world."

"That's great." Tai said.

Sora was seated on the other side of them with Joe just one row behind her. She had her digivice out hoping to pick up any sign of the eighth child yet only saw the blinking dots that represented her chosen companions. "The Digivice is also working too."

"And that was just about what we need to do." Beth was finishing explaining.

"I am worried," Sara remarks. "What will the High Council do, or should we maybe inform the Aurors about this? I don't think this Lady Despair, or the digimon are something we can handle by ourselves."

"We'll send an anonymous tip to the nearest Auror office once we're back in the city," Beth planned. "Then we guide the kids to their homes before we send word out to everyone in the Order."

"But there's a whole bunch of kids living in Hikarigaoka, how will we know?" Yui questioned.

"With these." Sora held up the digivice to Yui. "The digivices alert us if another chosen child is near."

"What are those things? Is that what's all the rage among kids these days?" Mr. Fujiyama walked up.

"No, that's not really…!" Joe said with great alarm.

"Let me have a look."

"You can't!" Tai said.

"Don't be stingy. After all, I'm letting you get off at Hikarigaoka."

"O-Okay." Sora handed her digivice to the teacher.

"That's good manners you've got there, Takenouchi. You're an obedient girl, unlike some other kid I know!"

"It's okay to just let him take a look at it." Izzy assured Tai.

Theo nods. "Yeah, you're only in trouble if he actually steals it."

"I felt like we were being attacked by an evil Digimon or something." Tai said.

"Professor Fujiyama is an evil Digimon?"

Zaira rolled her eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah, very much! If you forget your homework, he snares you with his tickle attack! It's really awful!"

Just then a hand fell on Tai's shoulders.

"I only heard that last part." Mr. Fujiyama said before he started to tickle Tai.

It was actually a very funny sight though.

* * *

Myotismon's army spread out in the search. Some searched from the skies, while others searched the sewers. Still others with enough of a human shape, like Wizardmon, or who were small enough, like Gatomon, searched as they walked around. Wherever they went, traffic signals would blink like crazy and cell phones went out of service.

"You still haven't found the child?" Myotismon had responded from Gatomon's report.

He was currently in his coffin with Lady Despair staring down the other digimon present.

Gatomon was kowtowing to both her Master and his creator. "Yes, sir. At the very least, the child doesn't appear to be within the vicinity of Hikarigaoka." The cat digimon replied.

Myotismon then sat straight up in his coffin. Demidevimon.

The bat digimon flapped down, having several crests, each exactly the same.

"What are those?" Gatomon blinked.

"Don't be so surprised, I've copied the eighth child's Tag and Crest. The one you have is also a copy."

"Then where's the original?"

A quick glance revealed it was held in Myotismon's right hand.

"Here in my grasp. Even though it is a copy, it will still react when the Chosen Child is nearby." The vampire replied.

The copied tags are handed out, but Lady Despair comes to a disappointing realization.

"That nosy Sea Witch must have her hand in this," Lady Despair hisses. "Unless it's the original tag, we won't get a reaction out of these damn things!"

Lady Despair grabs the tags from DemiDevimon, and pricks her finger to put a drop of black blood on the tag copies.

"But...I CAN make these things react when the guardians, or the Chosen Children when they are near," Lady Despair compares. "We can be assured that THEY will find the child first! Find those fairies and filthy children, and we'll find the eighth Chosen."

"This time, make no mistakes. You must find that child." Myotismon ordered.

"Yes sir!" Both Gatomon and Demidevimon bowed

"Those insolent children…and those paltry interlopers… I will do everything in my power to eliminate them!"

* * *

The moment the buses stopped at Hikarigaoka, the children with their digimon were dropped off with the guardians keeping a close eye on them. Sara's twin brother, Tony, was leaving with friends and agreed to keep an eye out. The group up on a bridge that overlooked the street close to the apartment buildings.

"Well, here we are." Theo shrugged.

"Wow! You used to live in that big castle, Sora?" Piyomon asked Sora.

"It's not a castle. It's divided into smaller rooms inside and a lot of people live there." Sora explained.

"Did you live in Hikarigaoka, too, Sora?"

The girl nodded.

"Sora and I were in the same class." Tai informed. "Third Elementary School, Class 1-2."

"Huh, I was in Fourth Elementary School." added Matt.

"Th-Then…" Joe stammered. "That means you weren't lying in order to trick the teacher?"

Matt confirmed. "It's true that we lived in Hikarigaoka."

"Yeah, I remember a little of it." T.K. agreed.

The children all confirmed that they all lived in the area years ago, it made the older girls exchanged glances. Then Izzy voiced their thoughts aloud.

"This can't be a mere coincidence."

For the next few minutes the guardians accompanied the children as they trekked through the area, reminiscing about their old neighborhood. It was nice seeing their faces light up as they recalled old stores, parks and other sections.

"T.K., you may not remember, but we used to play around here a lot." Matt was saying.

"But I do feel like I know this place." T.K. smiled brightly.

"How long did you live in Hikarigaoka, Izzy?" Sora asked.

"I think I even stayed less a year… Probably a couple of months." The ten year old boy replied sitting on guard rail.

"For that short time, why?" asked Yui.

"I don't know."

"I can answer that question for you!" Joe then walked up.

"But you didn't know Izzy at all back then." Tai reminded him.

Joe replied haughtily. "Because if I make the right calculations it should be enough. Izzy and his family moved away because of a terrorist bombing in 1995!"

"So it was just a no maj randomly attacking the area?" Zaira looked around.

"Maybe you don't remember it, but there was a terrorist bombing here in Hikarigaoka four years ago. And since they never caught the group responsible for the bombings." Joe added. "My parents figured it had just become too dangerous to live here anymore, so we moved out to Odaiba."

"That's right!" Sora blinked. "It was the same with my family! I remember they mentioned something about a bomb!"

"Spring 1995…" Beth was calculating thoughtfully. "I remember we were halfway through our first year as guardians when the whole bombing in Hikarigaoka went down."

"That was while you were all still in boarding school abroad wasn't it?" T.K. questioned.

Haruna looked thoughtful. "Yes, but our term the year afterwards when studying magic abroad was full of political slandering and a time of teenage rebellion against a corrupt authority figure that took over the school…"

"Uh…?" The eight kids and Digimon looked both dumbfounded and intrigued.

Sara G. looked sheepish. "Long story, we'll tell you guys a summarized version later."

Tai looked up, "Now that you mention it, I feel like that's what happened."

As they talked, multiple police cars with blaring sirens start passing by.

"What's that?" Mimi asked.

"Could it be Myotismon?"

"In broad daylight?"

The group followed the police cars to see a woolly mammoth digimon running amuck.

"That's Mammotmon!" Izzy used the digimon analyzer. "He's a Perfect-Level Digimon who has enormous ancient power. His special attacks are Tusk Strikes, where he fires his two tusks and Tundra Breath, which releases a cold blast from his nose."

A cop car pulled up before the group. "It's dangerous here! Find shelter!" The officer tried using his radio to call for backup except it was on the fritz. "Hello? Hello? I request some urgent backup! Hello?! That's weird…"

Mammotmon's ears twitched and he turned in their direction.

"He's seen us!" Tai yelled.

"Hurry and get out of here!" The officer sped away.

Mammon roared before he charged at us. In response, Piyomon ran forward "Let me handle it!"

"Piyomon!" Sora called out.

"Piyomon digivolve to… BIRDRAMON!"

Sara G., Yui and Haruna's jaws dropped.

"Watch the redhead work!" Beth said cracking her knuckles. In a flash of pink sparks she took on Digix form. "Alright, it still works here too!"

"You got a new transformation while over there too?!" Yui cried in amazement.

However their awe was nothing to the children's reactions as Mammotmon fought Birdramon and Beth. For the destroyed sections had started to awaken old memories and flashbacks to that fateful night.

"Monsters!" T.K. yelled. "Two monsters!"

"What are you talking about, T.K.?" Tai asked.

"That's it! I remember now!" Matt suddenly exclaimed. "A long time ago, T.K. insisted that he saw monsters but Mom scolded him. I couldn't say anything."

"When did this happen?" inquired Izzy.

"The same time as the bombing."

They followed so as not to let their comrades out of their sight.

"This is where the terrorist bombing took place!" Joe gaped.

It's as if history was repeating itself as more familiar objects were demolished. The group took cover under the bridge but kept getting hit by the attacks.

When Mammotmon attacked Sora and Tai, Birdramon became Garudamon to shield them. As she did so, Tai remembered one important detail to the memory.

"That night…It was Greymon!"

The incident from four years ago. On the night of one spring day, light suddenly emitted from Tai's father's computer monitor. The first to notice it was Kari, who was still too young at the time to even attend kindergarten. She felt a presence of some kind from within the monitor, even though it showed nothing on display.  
Her older brother, Tai, was the second to notice. As Tai watched, an egg even bigger than an ostrich egg popped out of the screen. From that egg hatched a round, pink creature— Koromon. Tai and Kari hid Koromon from their parents. But not for very long.

Koromon evolved into a bigger form, gaining arms and legs to achieve the appearance of a small dinosaur named Agumon. The Agumon at that time was a whole lot bigger than the Agumon that currently stood before Tai and his friends in 1999.

"I thought that it only looked that big to Kari because she was still small back then. But as she kept describing it, I began to remember more about the Agumon back then too. It was bigger than an adult."

"So that's why Kari said that I was small this time when she saw me," Koromon with them now muttered to himself.

The large Agumon, from four years ago, had run off into the town during the night with Kari on his back and with Tai chasing after him. Then, a creature that appeared to be a giant bird had appeared in the skies of Hikarigaoka.

Agumon and that bird Digimon had fought, and Agumon had evolved into Greymon. Even that Greymon was a size larger than the Greymon that they knew now. The two giant Digimon unleashed light right in the center of Hikarigaoka's streets.

Garudamon then seized Mammotmon and pulled it upwards before letting it fall. She and Beth glanced to each then nodded once before unleashing their final blow.

"Shadow Wing!"

"Incandescent beam!"

The flaming phoenix flew straight towards the feral digimon, engulfed it in flames, and disintegrating it into data. The group ran over, Sora rushing forward as Garudamon became Pyokomon and fell right into her arms.

Everyone looked around the highway. It was as though they stepped back through time… and it was a foreboding omen of the upcoming destruction if Myotismon is not defeated. The signs of battle remained, pedestrian bridges were destroyed, and giant holes gaped in the middle of the streets. Fortunately no one was hurt.

"The two disappeared somewhere after the fight." Tai finished.

"So that's why it was labeled a terrorist attack." Joe acknowledged.

"I knew it!" Haruna cried, "I knew something otherworldly had happened, but the ministry of our homeland wouldn't release any information!"

"I'm just glad it wasn't an Obscurus as I feared." Zaira said grimly.

"It must have been a different Koromon. But… When I met Tai for the first time, I felt nostalgic." Koromon admitted.

The wailing of sirens wailing alerted the group that the authorities were on their way.

"This is bad! If they catch us, they won't stop interrogating us!" worried Joe.

Izzy agreed. "Yes, they won't let us go that quickly."

* * *

They hurried towards a park close the rail station as they discussed what they'd uncovered.

"I've been wondering about this for a long time now." Izzy was. "Out of all of those children at camp, why were we the only ones who were chosen? But now I've finally figured out a clue to solving that mystery."

"It was because of the incident from four years ago." Mimi mentioned in understanding.

"Yes. All of us are linked by the fact that we have already seen the Digimon four years ago when we used to live here!"

"Then that must mean…" Matt guessed.

"There is no doubt about it! The eighth child must have also witnessed that event!" Izzy concluded.

"But something is amiss here. There must have been crowds of children who'd witnessed the incident at Hikarigaoka. So, why is it that seven of you had moved to Odaiba, was just happen to be the chosen ones?" Sara G. questioned.

"And why didn't any of the grown-ups see the battle either?" Dana wondered, "This was way too big for the Ministry to ignore, meaning they probably must've modified memories."

Joe then said worriedly. "But maybe Myotismon's already found him! If the eighth child saw the incident, then the child must live in Hikarigaoka, right?"

"That's not true." Motimon interrupted. "Since Mammotmon was wandering around here alone, then the others must still be scattered and searching for the eighth child."

"Then there's still time…" Beth murmured.

**_To be continued..._**


	20. Nearly home free

In the villains' hideout, DemiDevimon had just brought news to his Master and creator.

"What? Garudamon and the Keeper of the Heart have been sighted?" Myotismon was stunned.

Demidevimon nodded once. "Yes. It's reported that the Guardians and the Chosen Children have returned to this world."

"Oh lovely!" Lady Despair hissed, and came up to DemiDevimon and pats him on the top of the head. "And I suppose Sirene's Heir was there?"

DemiDevimon gulped and nods, causing Lady Despair to frown slight red glow in her eyes, and she turns around to face her child.

"Well, I don't want you getting distracted," Lady Despair points her finger with the silver talon like finger casing on it. "Well will find this 8th child and be done with them and THEN we can discuss what to do with that half nymph."

Myotismon's lip curled, but nods at his mother. When he turns away, Lady Despair waves DemiDevimon over to whisper.

"Keep an eye out for Sirene's Heir, I want to be notified the SECOND she's seen and not a word to Myotismon," Lady Despair points her scepter at DemiDevimon. "Is that clear?"

DemiDevimon nods with a gulp, and Lady Despair smiles and strokes his head affectionately before walking away into the shadows.

* * *

As of this moment the heroic group was standing in front of Line No. 12, the Toei Oedo Line. There they were discussing the possibility of where exactly the eighth child might be.

"Yes. If that's not just a coincidence, then we should assume that the ninth child has also moved."

"So, could he be in Odaiba just like us?" Tai asked.

"That's our most likely possibility."

"I want to go home!" Mimi declared.

"Alright! Anyway, let's head to Odaiba first!"

"Yeah, let's all head home for today. We're all tired, and we can't let our families worry about us if they get the news first about the camp being cancelled." Beth suggested.

"We'll put off deciding what to do and how to search for the eighth child tomorrow," agreed Sora.

They entered the station, looking at the rail maps and purchase screens.

"Let's see... the fastest way to get to Odaiba…" Joe muttered.

"I can't tell because there are so many routes available." Mimi shrugged.

"Think you can still get a ride back to Azabu-Juban?" Haruna asked Zaira.

"I'll catch the next subway train to get there."

"Please wait just a minute." Izzy had been doing some calculations on his laptop. "The fastest way to get there is… Okay, if we take the Toei No. 12 Line from here to Nakano-sakaue, transfer to the Marunochi and Ginza Lines and leave from Shimbashi, the Yurikamome route will take us to Odaiba."

"Okay then. In any case, let's get to Nakano-sakaue first." Tai was at the electronic register getting tickets.

Koromon hopped onto the counter next to him. "Hey, Tai! What's that?"

"A ticket. This is what we use to ride the subway."

"Subway?" Palmon questioned.

"What's that?" Patamon asked.

"Shhhh! Please, don't talk too much in front of other people. This place is different from your world. If anyone catches you talking, they'll raise an uproar!" Joe shushed them.

"They got a point and who knows how the Japanese ministry will react if word got out." added Yui.

"Listen, while you're here, you need to pretend to be stuffed animals. You can't move around, okay? I know it'll be tough, but bear with it." Sora instructed.

"Okay, I understand. I won't talk or move. It's much easier to be carried around by Sora anyway." Pyokomon happily squirmed a little in Sora's arms.

"I just said not to move!"

The group walked up to the rail waiting for the train.

"Is this a cave?" Koromon wondered.

"It's a weird cave." Tsunomon observed.

"Hey, be quiet!" Matt scolded.

"The train is arriving on time. Please stay behind the white line." The train dispatcher announced.

"Wh-What's that sound?" Koromon asked.

"Is that a Digimon's voice?" Tsunomon added.

The sound of an approaching train got their attention.

"It must be one of Myotismon's minions!"

Tai and Matt couldn't hold on to them as they easily hopped right out of their arms down to the rail!

The two boys shouted the names of their respective digimon in fear. It was a terrifying moment but fortunately the two little creatures were unharmed.

Afterwards, they all quickly boards the train before something else happened. But of course, that was just the first of the more troublesome incidents that same day. Once in the train, a mother and her baby sat down in the seat Sora had offered and that was fine, except the baby had gotten interested in Pyokomon. Or to be more precise, in the little yellow vines on her head which he'd begun to yank, the mom tried to get the baby to stop, but the continuous tugging had caused poor Pyokomon to cry out: "That hurts! Stop pulling me!"

Well, the good news was that baby didn't even cry in response, he only let go while staring what only be described as utter astonishment. The bad news is the reaction had gotten the attention of every passenger on the train. Thinking fast, Sora pretends that she was just using ventriloquism to make the 'doll' talk. This impresses the people, and a boy begins asking his father for his own 'Pyokomon doll'. Sora tells the boy's father where to buy one and he and the boy leave at the next stop, as most of the passengers follow them. Everyone falls asleep, not having slept properly in a while and when they awaken, it was already around midday, and that they'd missed the stop they were going to transfer at. Unfortunately, Patamon was going to wake them up but Palmon reminded him that they were supposed to stay quiet, so he didn't say anything.

"What now? Do we go back to our stop?" Joe questioned Izzy.

"No. I'm certain we transfer to the Marunochi line from here." the younger boy replied.

"Alright, everyone stay together." Kylie instructed the children.

"Hey, Tai? I'm really hungry…" Koromon muttered.

"Me, too…"

"So am I." Tsunomon and Palmon chimed in.

"Well, I'm hungry too. Just hang on for a few more minutes." Tai replied.

"I want to eat a hamburger." Mimi moaned.

Some of them stopped, already thinking about the food they hadn't eaten since they were in the Digiworld.

"I feel like I haven't eaten that in a while." Matt said.

"Don't remind me, I could go for some chili fries myself." Theo groaned.

"Or cheesy nachos with a good cup of pumpkin juice." Dana admitted.

* * *

Back with Joe, Izzy, Kylie, Sara G and Zaira, they were calculating on the best way to get to Odaiba. However by the time they reached the station's south entrance, they realized the others were nowhere in sight. What's more the digivice didn't seem to be responding right.

Then as they were walking out, a lady had been giving out free wrapped samples that were either food or candy and Gomamon bite one right out of her hand! Naturally, the lady had shrieked in fright.

"It's just a toy! It's a toy!" Joe yelped even as he and the rest ran out of there.

They'd reached the crosswalk outside and Joe spots the rest of the group though a window in a tall building, in a fast food place.

"So that's where they were!" He exclaimed.

They walk past two men holding a large painting of the Fuji TV building. As they crossed, Zaira had looked back briefly to see a very large man in a trench coat and hat. That was fishy.

"What's the matter?" Sara G asked her.

"Thought I saw something." The semi-goth replied.

Turns out, the rest of the group had gotten hungry and couldn't resist the temptation to eat fast food. Unfortunately most of the kids had no money left for transport. Izzy then notices his Digivice is working again, and guesses it probably only works from close distances on Earth.

After eating, the kids decide that they should attempt hitch-hiking home – an idea the eight girls had highly disapproved of. Tai tries to stop a car first with no luck. Joe and Izzy were next, which amuses the others, and they stop a taxi. The driver then realizes the kids don't have any money and leaves. Matt tried next, but he appears to be too embarrassed to accept a ride from a pretty lady.

Haruna threw up her hands and shook her head in disbelief, "This is ridiculous!"

"Hitchhiking? Scuse the tone, and what I'm about to say next, but... Are you all insane?!" Beth was aggravated. "That's one of many ways of how kids go missing!"

Mimi gave her sidelong glance, "Then why can't you just call your family or something to pick us up as an emergency?"

The problem was that Zaira's family was out of the house for the day as was Haruna's. Sara and Tony's uncle was working that day and the line was occupied.

"And our chauffeur has the week off, our family figured we'd still be at camp." Dana shrugged.

"And no, apparating is not an option." Sara G. then added flatly, already answering the question on the kids' minds. "I don't know what could happen but usually if a no maj sees something magical they shouldn't have, they get their memories modified."

"Oh, I guess you have a better idea?!" Tai demanded.

"Listen up." Zaira said sternly, "You already spent your change on food but half the girls and we didn't. I say we all catch a bus to Odaiba, we pay for the fare and we drop you off close to your homes. How does that sound?"

Tai now looked sheepish, he hadn't thought of that. "Well, when you put it that way…"

The children all agreed.

Sara G looked out at the street. "If I recall, the usual bus stops right at this section. We better be quick, this one makes limited stops and fortunately for us, it ends up in Odaiba."

"Here we are," Zaira walked up the steps with Sara G and Yui, expecting the others to follow them on.

Tai, Matt, T.K. and Joe climbed onboard.

Unfortunately at that moment, Kylie had turned and gasped. "Wizardmon!"

"What's the matter?" Haruna questioned the moment Kylie ducked behind some bushes, pulling Mimi and Izzy with her.

"There's one of them out there!" was Kylie's alarmed reply.

In effect, a four foot tall humanoid wearing a dark blue hat and torn cape was holding balloons, passing by with a line of children following. Something glowed pink in its hands, this made the figure stop, look down in surprise at whatever was glowing, then start to turn around…

Beth yelped, then she and the other guardians bundled together.

"Let no harm to us come through," Beth recited a new spell. "Just for a few moments, quickly shield us from their view!"

Luckily, the spell worked creating a brief shimmering curtain that hid them from that digimon's view just long enough for it to leave. The second group sighed with relief but it didn't last long… …for the bus with three of the guardians and the four boys left without them!

They could see their alarmed faces staring at them right through one of the windows. They were saying something but none of them could hear a word.

"You think we can still catch them?" Mimi asked.

"We're just gonna have to be fast enough to find out!" Theo answered.

They managed a couple blocks on foot (and with Theo's shortcuts) before reaching Kachidoki Bridge. Fortunately the bus stopped, allowing the four boys and the three of the guardians stuck on it to run back to their friends.

"I thought it would never stop." Yui groaned.

Joe slumped over. "Me either."

"So now how do we get to Odaiba?" Mimi asked.

"We'll figure something out…"

Just then something pink glowed briefly from under the bridge. This got their attention briefly. What was causing it?

Dana leaned over. "Weird, that looks like the same kinda glow we saw whenever a crest-"

At that moment the bridge began to shake. The resulting movement, causes Izzy to slip and fall towards the water. As he is falling towards the water, Motimon digivolve to Tentomon just in time to save him. However, swimming in the water below is one of Myotismon's sea henchmen, Gesomon, a giant squid-like monster.

"He's a Mollusk-type Adult-Level Virus Digimon! His special attack, Deadly Shade, paralyzes his enemies!"

"Leave the marine Digimon to me!" Gomamon declared as he jumped into the water.

"Gomamon, digivolve to… IKKAKUMON!"

"This one's right in my element!" Sara G yelled.

Yui got ready. "Don't forget me!"

In a flash of teal and yellow sparks, the two teenage girls transformed and flew down to assist Ikkakumon. The ensuing battle had drawn quite the multitude of people.

"Another beast appeared!"

"Look up there!"

"Are they monsters? No way!"

"But those two look like a fairies!"

"Get the camera! Hurry!"

In almost no time at all, Ikkakumon, Yui and Sara G made short work of Gesomon. Taking advantage of the situation, the heroic group escaped the area. As of right now, Joe, Sora and Mimi were riding Ikkakumon back while the others were on logs with the guardians. Yui and Sara G were flying alongside Ikkakumon conversing with him.

"We kind of drew a big crowd back there." Matt said.

"It couldn't be helped. Everything will be forgotten tomorrow, you'll see." Tai said cheerfully.

Izzy and Tentomon exchanged calm glances.

"Well, we'll drop you all off to close to your homes in Odaiba before we do the same." Sara G chimed in.

"Sounds good to me." T.K. grinned.

"Everyone ready?" Joe cheered, "Towards Odaiba!"

Finally they were all headed home. But completely unaware that they've been spotted.

"Found them!" Demidevimon smirked. "I'll tell Lord Myotismon straightaway!"

* * *

That same afternoon, Demidevimon gave his report to Myotismon via tele-communication device. Fortunately, Lady Despair had left for her lab and would return in the evening.

"What did you say?" Myotismon demanded, sitting up straight in his coffin. "They've defeated both Mammotmon and Gesomon?"

"Yes. The troops that Gatomon brought with her are all useless! To tell the truth, they only bring trouble!" Demidevimon said, chuckling.

"What are you laughing at?!"

"N-Nothing at all, sir!"

"What's important is both the Eighth child and Sirene's daughter, keep searching! Find them!" Myotismon ordered.

"Y-Yes, sir! Understood!"

* * *

True to their words, the guardians stayed with the kids long enough for them to reach their respective homes.

Tai and Matt lived in the condos that were located by going across the street and turning right from here. The only ones left standing there were Matt, holding Tsunomon in his arms, and T.K., with Patamon on his head. Hearing his brother call for him, Matt began to walk back to him. Even if he went back home now, his father wouldn't be there at this time. The Pantheon sisters agreed to walk them to the Yurikamome heading for Shinbashi.

The two brothers' father worked at a TV station and was often home late. The two boys had dinner for themselves. As Matt was accustomed to cooking, he used leftovers in the fridge to make pasta. Patamon gave a secret nod. Both he and Tsunomon were riding on their laps, pretending to be stuffed animals.

After the divorce, their mother and T.K. moved to Sangenjaya. Since T.K. was supposed to have slept the night at summer camp, their mother was most likely working late that day. However, Matt thought, it was probably for the best that T.K. go home too. Being in the Digital World meant that T.K. hadn't seen their mother in over half a year. He didn't speak of it, but he must be wanting to see her soon. Regardless, he shouldn't be made to go home on his own. That was why Matt was accompanying him to Sangenjaya.

Someone was watching the Yurikamome. Wizardmon knew that two of the Chosen Children were on the Yurikamome. But instead of showing any interest in pursuing them, he disappeared into the night's darkness.

* * *

Sora's house was empty by the time Theo dropped her off.

"I forgot. She said that she'd be back home late because she has a class today. We didn't even need you to come through the window, Piyomon. For flower-arranging. They put flowers together all pretty-like. She teaches that."

Perhaps it was better this way for the moment. Besides, what would her mother say if she was suddenly face-to-face with a Digimon?

There was something Sora wanted to say to her mother before any of that, anyway. She didn't know how to put it into the right words, but for a start, she wanted to tell her, "Thank you."

* * *

Yui left Mimi at the younger girls' literal front door.

"The food you make is so delicious, Mommy!" Mimi said happily, as she ate the kimchi fried rice topped with strawberries and whipped cream.

Mimi's mother Satoe smiled as she held out a dish. While Mimi had been unable to endure many things in the Digital World, the reason she had the least complaints in the group when it came to food there was because this was how she normally ate.

"Okay, thank y–"

"What's wrong? Are you full?"

"Okay, if that's what you want to do, Mimi."

If she saw Mimi, who returned to her room with a heaping plate of food, feeding a creature that looked like a plant bulb with eyes and a mouth, she probably would not have been very surprised either.

"This is so tasty! Mimi, your mommy is a cooking genius!"

Because Mimi's room was overflowing with dolls, the plant bulb chewing on a piece of ham — Palmon, did not look so out of place.

After all of that effort to make it back home, would she have to go back to that world again? Would she have to fight again? Mimi grew slightly depressed. She almost wished magic COULD solve all their problems.

* * *

Joe had convinced Haruna to let him walk the rest of the way, seeing as the Time bureau wasn't too far either.

While they had been traveling those months in the Digital World, Joe's secret worry had been his school studies. Since he was the only sixth grader of the group, and no one else was considering taking an entrance exam to a private middle school, he couldn't discuss it with anyone else. It was a big problem for him. No, forget studying in fact, he had given up convinced that the day of his exam had already passed.

"I can still make it in time. Thank goodness."

He couldn't just forget about it, it's very important to him. "My dad is a doctor, and my brothers are working hard to become doctors too. My brothers are amazing. Not only do they have good grades, but Shin was always chosen as president of the student council, and Shou is also good at athletics. He even made it to the nationals on the track team once. But…"

"This is more important right now. We have to find the eighth child somehow. Are you getting sleepy?"  
Even as he spoke, Joe realized that he was also pretty tired. Until now, as he lay on his bed, he had never thought of how comfortable his sheets felt.

"It's been a really long day," he whispered, as he immediately fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

"Cell phone communications are down in all areas throughout Tokyo, followed by blocked reception of TV and radio waves. There is a high suspicion that someone is using illegal radio waves to jam electrical communication systems. The first of such phenomena to be found occurred earlier this afternoon, in the Nerima district near Hikarigaoka–"

"So? Did you find something?"

"Nothing yet, sir. The scope is just too big. I thought it was only Nerima at first, but it's extended north to Saitama, south to Shinagawa, and east to Ginza, and west to Ogikubo."

Matt's father, Hiroaki Ishida, hung up without waiting to hear an answer. Grabbing his cigarettes and a lighter, he headed for the smoking area. When this new office building for the TV station was built in Odaiba, the one thing that troubled him most was that he was no longer allowed to smoke at his desk.

The electromagnetic interference (EMI) that had begun in Nerima had grown in range as time passed. Or would it be more accurate to say that it had scattered? It was as if vehicles carrying a device that messed up radio waves had spread out in different directions from Nerima towards other parts of the city all at once. The problem was that no one could find those so-called vehicles. There had even been reports of traffic lights being on the fritz. Uncovering where those vehicles were or who the culprit was, before the police or other TV stations caught them, was his top challenge at the moment. Unfortunately, time passed without him grabbing any form of a clue.

He had no way of knowing that creatures called Digimon were the cause of that EMI… or even that his own sons were involved.

* * *

By the sound of the front door opening, Kari knew that Tai had returned home. The little girl and Vanessa had been conversing for hours until the parents had returned.

She heard their mother's voice calling out from the living room. As Tai listened to her voice, he quietly shoved Koromon into his room. Looking at Kari who was inside with an expression that said 'Look after him,' he turned nonchalantly to face their mother who had come walking out of the living room.

That was as far as he got when his smile crumpled. He hadn't seen his mother in over half a year. So she was taken by surprise when he suddenly hugged her tight.

None of them knew that Miko, the family cat, had discovered the eighth digivice that rightfully belonged to Kari and consequently dropped it from the balcony. As a result of trying to recover it, the digivice ends up further and further from its intended destination and alerts one of Myotismon's monstrous grunts.

* * *

Sara G dropped Izzy off at the corner to his home after exchanging a few emails and other electronic information. They would need it, especially if the Chosen children needed to contact the Guardians without magic.

And as a person who lived with someone that wasn't a biological parent per say, he could relate in some way to Kylie, Theo and now Sara with her twin brother.

Izzy took off the laptop book bag he was carrying and entered his room. As she watched his back, his adoptive mother felt that, yes, something had definitely changed. She heard the sound of a key turning in the lock.

* * *

And so, the other girls had returned to their homes in time for dinner. All three Pantheon sisters had greeted the mansion's staff, at least were those still in Kibou Manor even if it was summertime.

The pets and almost every wild stray beast the Pantheon family had taken in to help or rehabilitate had given the sisters quite a warm welcome...

Kylie entered her own room after greeting Achilles and the rest of the pack. She dropped off her things on the bed then walked into the bathroom and prepare for a shower. However she hadn't even turned the knob when drops began dripping.

Suddenly, drops let out a laugh, a shimmering, echoing laugh. Then a sufficient puddle moved in front of an alarmed Kylie, then the familiar form of the Dark Spectre Queen appeared. Not that Kylie ever met her in person, but she saw pictures of her, and they seemed to do her faithful. She was decked in a gold, shimmering dress, wearing silver jade bracelets, and a red ruby necklace, her Sampo, around her neck. In her hair were blue pearls, and a sea flower.

"Well, so glad to see you back in the mortal realm, Dearest One." Vanessa proclaimed, and made a dipping curtsy. "As you may, or may not know, I am the Dark Spectre Queen of the Ocean. And it is my pleasure to introduce myself to you, Sirene's heir. Kylie Pantheon."

"I am… my lady, how do you know me?" Kylie asked uncertainly.

"Oh, Darling Girl, I knew your mother well, Lovely Nymph." Vanessa said as she reached out her scaly hand, and Kylie took it so Vanessa pulled her close. The Sea Witch patted and stroked the back of Kylie's hand in a loving manner.

"I met your mother over 40,000 years ago as mortals here reckon time," Vanessa explained. "And during that time, I was not as...visually appealing as I am now. But Sirene, blessed lady, she didn't care and came to visit me, befriending me. And I in turn taught her some of my secrets, and she never betrayed my trust. I wanted to be with her in the digital world, but I am bound to the Earth, and I would not survive the trip." Vanessa frowned sadly. "I learned of your mother's death too late, if I had learned sooner, I could've used the blood of the one who killed her to bring her back to life. But fifty years is the limit for that ritual, and she is gone from us forever, in body..."

"Kylie, who you talking to...?" Beth and Dana had stepped in, having heard their voices.

"Uhm, hi...?" Beth greeted.

Dana waved brightly.

"My Ladies, allow me to introduce myself," Vanessa does a curtsy, showing off her seagull feet and scaly arms. "You stand before the Enchantress of the Seven Seas, the Belle of the Swell, the Dame of the Deep and the Queen of the Cove, The Dark Spectre Queen is my common title. I am known by the name 'Vanessa.' Among friends."

Vanessa smiled, waving a scaly hand at the girls. "Dana and Beth, right? Forgive me, I know your names because I've been keeping an eye on Kylie for a long time."

"Yeah, good to know." Beth nods, "You're actually one of the first immortals to actually speak to us since we began as Ethereal Guardians of the Veil three years ago."

"Yeah, we already met the wizarding brothers, and Lords Ak, Bo and Kern." Dana nodded blithely.

"Well, I'm not technically an immortal," Vanessa places a scaly hand on her chest, ruby encrusted silver bangles jingling on her wrist. "I have no heart in my body, I hid it elsewhere, so nothing can kill me. This body you see before you is filled with light magic to counteract the dark magic that corrupts my body, as such I have more...leeway in how I spend my time."

She holds up a scaled, taloned finger. "Which reminds me..."

* * *

Around eight pm, the Goodman twins had logged in to communicate with Izzy as they'd agreed that afternoon. Sara G sat in the computer chair with the screen facing her and Tony. Both wore a headset for communication through the webcam.

With Tentomon napping beside his computer desk, Izzy had opened his laptop and turned it on before turning to his laptop.

"They should be present in about three…two… one… Here we are!"

"Hey Izzy, can you hear me?" Sara G asked.

"Can you even see us?" Tony's voice came through.

"As a matter of fact, yes I can!"

Sharing newfound knowledge from Earth was one thing but the world of magic was something still new to Izzy and the other Chosen children. No matter how illogical it may be, as with almost all children, magic and everything found in its world is (or at least, for some of the children once more became) an irresistible subject for them.

"Mr. Gennai added a lot of different programs, I'm just starting to try them out… Let's see." Izzy moved his mouse to one program 'Kankan'.

He clicked on it and a Frigimon, a Monzaemon, and a Numemon in dresses doing the 'Cancan'.

"That was weird." Tony remarked, through the head set.

"Th-That's it?" Izzy cringed as he closed it. "Then how about this…?"

He next clicked on 'Balloon' which turned out to be a Chuumon inflating a balloon before it exploded. Izzy put his face in his hand in disbelief. "This won't help."

"Well those two were a bust." Sara G shook her head.

Izzy clicked on the third program called 'Radar' and got a map of the Tokyo bay. "It's a map of Tokyo!"

"So then what's that blinking red dot right by the Rainbow Bridge?" Tony questioned.

Curious, Izzy clicked on it and it zoomed in with a much closer map.

"There's trouble! An unidentified Digimon has landed on Shibaura!" A small version of Gennai was waving its arms at the low right side corner of the laptop screen.

Of course both sides first instinct was to inform the others. But as Izzy and the Goodman twins found out: they were all sleeping or occupied with something else.

Tentomon stirred. "Is something wrong?"

"An unknown Digimon has surface on Shibaura. I've tried contacting Tai and the others, but everyone is sleeping…"

"They're all tired from what happened earlier this afternoon." Tentomon guessed.

"Never mind that Izzy, we got to get there before there's any casualties!" Sara G cried.

"She's right! No matter who our opponent is, I'm sure we can handle them alone!"

Izzy nodded, he and the twins agreed to meet at the docks as soon as possible. He dressed Tentomon in a rain poncho so as not to draw suspicion then they snuck out the window to the streets where Izzy waved down a taxi. They got in and told the driver to go to Shibaura.

* * *

In Shibaura, the Kamiya family cat Miko had recovered the digivice in the truck, he'd gotten stuck in. However, the truck had been picked up and dropped on its side causing the doors to open. Miko took the digivice in his mouth and saw it was because of a greyish blue sludge-like monster with metal and wires on its body.

As the poor cat fled Raremon, all of this was watched by Lady Despair, who sensed the 'tag copy' activating in the presence of Kari's digivice.

"What is that slime-wad doing!?" Lady Despair proclaimed, looking into the surface of Mercurymon's mirror face. "YOU STUPID PIECE OF NASAL-DRIP! THAT'S A CAT!" She slaps her forehead. "UGH! Where did DemiDevimon and Gatomon find these fools!?"

"Well, power was more of the idea then 'brains' when your son asked for them, My Lady." Mercurymon pipes up.

"Remind me to get someone else for recruitment in the future," Lady Despair huffed.

In the meantime, both the Goodman twins and Izzy arrived at the docks of Shibaura in time to see Raremon fast approaching the gates.

"Yecch! It looks like something out that crawled out from the Grossology department!" Tony gagged.

"Wh-Who is that?" Tentomon questioned.

Izzy gave the analysis. "It's called Raremon! An Adult-Level Undead Digimon who failed trying to reinforce its decaying body with metal! Its special attack is Hedoro!"

None of them saw Miko run past their legs, then the digivice had started to beep.

"The eighth child is around here!" Izzy cried, looking at his digivice.

"He's very valuable! If we lose him now, we won't know when we'll find him next!" Tentomon tossed off the rain poncho.

"We'll fight off Raremon!" Sara G urged taking fairy form, "You and Tony look for the eighth chosen child!"

"Is that all right with you?" Izzy asked them uncertainly.

"We have no other choice!"

Tony had looked hesitant but agreed. "Alright."

"Okay then! I'm counting on you!"

"Tentomon digivolve to… KABUTERIMON!"

The twins were taken aback as the red insect became an enormous blue, skeletal rhinoceros beetle. Sara G recovered fast and flew up into the air.

Izzy and Tony watched Izzy's digivice attentively with the signal getting further away before vanishing and reappearing again.

"It disappeared." Izzy muttered. "No… it's moving! This way!"

"Geez, what'd this kid have for breakfast? Jet fuel?" Tony snarked, he and Izzy were trying to catch up.

They're completely unaware that they're merely following a lost digivice or that DemiDevimon was the warehouse section as well. "Where is he?" the bat digimon questioned looking left to right.

Raremon had dove into the bay with Kabuterimon and Sara G patrolling from up above the water. However that meant they had no idea where Raremon was hiding.

Without warning, the moving sludge beast hurled its toxic spew at Kabuterimon, causing the insect to fall into the water.

"Kabuterimon, hang on!" Sara G cried, diving right into the waters.

Miko the cat kept on running with the Digivice in mouth only to run into a stray dog. When it growled, Miko yowled and ran off, dropping the digivice. The dog sniffed it once before giving off a confused whine and leaving. Once it did, a raven picked up the digivice and flew away. Thus, Izzy and Tony arrived a split second too late.

"The child should be around here…" Izzy was saying.

Uncertainly, Tony looked around for any clues. "No footprints, no nothing! Where'd he go? And how do you know if it's a he?"

"You!" DemiDevimon had just arrived.

Tony frowned suspiciously. "Who're you?!"

Izzy gasped. "That's one of Myotismon's minions!"

Demidevimon sneered deviously. "And it looks like my lucky night, I get to waste two meddlers and bring back a crest!"

Tony had picked up an old pipe and took a swing at the bat creature. "Get lost, doofus!"

"Demi darts!"

Tony ducked out of the way where the darts hit some crates.

"Look out, if any of the darts hit you, it'll be fatal!" Izzy warned.

"WHAT?!" Tony's eyes grew wide.

Raremon dragged Kabuterimon down into the depths, the insect flailing, and desperately trying to break free and swim to the surface. But it seemed impossible and he would drown.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, a powerful current hit the Raremon, causing him to release the insect, and hundreds of seaweed tendrils shot forth, and entangled the creature.

Through the murky bay waters, Sara G had her head in a bubble and as she approached, she moved her palms in a circular motion, her hands were shining a glimmering ocean blue.

Kabuterimon was encased in a large bubble, which caused him to take a breath of relief, and fresh air, as he was lifted to the surface. There a giant sized woman, wearing a blue colored Greek toga dress grabbed the bubble with her scaly, malformed hand. It was the Dark Spectre Queen of the Ocean.

"My, my, isn't the bay dirty enough without more sludge?" The Sea Witch giggled. "One more thing."

Sara G found herself pulled upwards and staring a surprise at their newest ally/potential friend.

The large bubble was popped to free Kabuterimon. Raremon suddenly emerged out of the water, and fired a blast of sludge at both Sara G and at Vanessa. However, the attack hit an invisible wall that rippled as the sludge dissipated and the Sorceress made a twirling motion with her index finger.

Immediately, a whirlpool formed under the creature, which swirls and sucked it down, down into the water. And shot the creature up into the air, Sara and Kabuterimon firing simultaneous attacks, which destroyed the evil digimon.

"Marvelous work, friends!" The Dark Spectre Queen clapped, laughing in her giant voice. "But...where's Izzy? And Sara wasn't your brother with you?"

Izzy and Tony, meanwhile, had fallen afoul of DemiDevimon, who proceeded to hurl his darts at the boys, which impaled an outline around their bodies causing them to yelp.

"Now, I'll get rid of you and get accolades from My Lady and Lord Myotismon!" Demidevimon proclaimed.

"Oh really!?"

A large shadow hovered over DemiDevimon, who looked up and gasped in horror as a massive hand was over him now, and the giant hand of the Sea Witch plucks him out of the air with two fingers.

"Now, is this any way to act when you're a guest in this world, little Imp?" Vanessa said in mocking tone.

"Let Go! My Lady will get you for harming one of her servants!" DemiDevimon yelled.

"Oh, well, you can put that right out of your head, because I haven't an inclination to fear that sinister strumpet!" Vanessa laughed, and flicked Demidevimon into the air.

"You got lucky, but this doesn't change a thing!" The bat digimon snapped before flying away.

Izzy watched in awe, as the Sorceress shrunk down to normal size as she strolled over to the young boy.

"I dare say we're strangers," Vanessa said. "Young Izzy Izumi, I'm the Dark Spectre Queen of the Sea, Vanessa. Ah, and you must be Sara's brother, Tony."

Tony smiled placing his hands in his pockets while Izzy could only nod in amazement. First fairies, dark creatures and now a sea witch? This was turning out to be quite the summer of discoveries.

"We're here!" The Pantheon sisters in fairy form showed up a little late.

"What'd we miss?"

"A fight with a very nasty digimon that looked like something out of a B-movie!" Sara cried as she and Kabuterimon flew over.

Now most of us are here… Vanessa flicked one of her hands forward. An object shoots out of the bay, and into her palm, and the group looks at it.

"Beth, doesn't that look familiar?" Dana asked.

"It looks like a tag and crest like the others!" Beth gasped in shock.

"Hmmm… It's a crude copy, which seems to be in tuned to your life-force girls, and that of the Chosen Children." Vanessa yelps as red sparks shoot out of the tag and crest, and when it hits the ground it melts.

"What was that?" Izzy asked in shock.

"A fail-safe...someone clearly doesn't want me to use that tag to trace the flow of magic back to its creator," Vanessa said. "Be warned children, you aren't just dealing with malicious Digimon. A woman of evil and vicious manner is out there with magic strong enough to set the sky on fire, of split the Earth in half."

"Reporting live from Shibaura!"

Already a television news crew was on the scene in front of the wrecked dance club: Club Poseidon. Although several were injured, there were thankfully no deaths.

"We have yet to confirm the appearance of the monsters or these fairies! Do they even exist? Huh?" The reporter paused, noticing his craw had been gesturing something. "Wait! Look at that!"

The camera moved up to the right catching a glimpse of Kabuterimon and four smaller flying, glowing figures returning to Odaiba.

The group had already bid Vanessa goodnight and Kabuterimon was flying with Izzy and Tony on his back as they were talking.

"It's too bad we couldn't find the eighth chosen child." admitted Kabuterimon.

"But at least knowing that they around here, and not in Hikarigaoka, is a great find!" Izzy replied. "Tai's guess was correct! We need to let the others know about this first thing tomorrow!"

"You're right." Kabuterimon agreed.

"Let's all meet up at the park a couple blocks from the apartment around… eight thirty or so?" Beth suggested.

"Of course!" Izzy nods.

"We'll meet you there!" Tony set his watch.

"Check!" Sara G agrees.

* * *

Demidevimon gave his report through the bat shaped mirror to Sierra and Myotismon.

"I'm sorry, but when I thought I found the child, it was reacting to the holder of the crest of knowledge." Demidevimon reports.

"Impossible! My mother's magic is unrelenting, how could the copy crest fail!?" Myotismon wondered.

"No!" Lady Despair covered her face in dismay. "That Sea witch, she must've found he child first, and is now protecting them with her sorcery, unless the true tag is placed near the child. We can't find them with the copies!"

"But the good news is I know what area Sirene's heir resides."

Demidevimon then explained that the Pantheon sisters were last seen close to Odaiba. Myotismon tensed, stealing a brief glance at his creator.

Lady Despair sighed. "Good work, unfortunately with all their protective enchantments there's no means of locating WHERE EXACTLY they live. But need I suggest we move a little closer shall we say?"

"I see." Myotismon acknowledged. "Then we all have no more business here."

Now the trick was to get her to come where they want her. Myotismon's carriage and his army begun to move out in direction of their new hideout.

**_To be continued…_**


	21. Tokyo tower is hot! SkullMeramon

A thick mist several meters wide abruptly rose up in one, isolated part of Tokyo's night.

Darkness, the perfect cloak for the evil lurking around. Ideal conditions for producing fear. Myotismon's first miscalculation was the strength of the sun in midsummer Tokyo. But the night belonged to him. And as such, his 'sustenance was exactly as the legend said.

It was close to the witching hour and on this evening, a young woman was headed home. There was no one out in this foggy evening besides her, so she was confused at hearing a strange sound. The creaking of heavy wheels, the sounds were coming from a wooden carriage, but there was no driver and no horses were pulling it.

A bat flew a little too close to her head, startling the lady. This was when the carriage stopped right next her. She stared curiously as a door opened to reveal a handsome caped stranger step out and smile at her. His appearance took her breath away.

For a moment, they stared at each silently before leaning in close. She for a kiss, Myotismon, for something else entirely as evidenced by his fangs.

He fed on her like the vampire that he was, dropping her unconscious body and leaving her there on the streets. She was later found by a hysterical neighbor and loaded into an ambulance en route to the hospital.

"It's like she was bitten by a vampire," the paramedic helping her whispered so low that nobody could hear. It didn't occur to him that what he'd said himself was the truth.

As the mist slowly traveled south, the number of victims grew.

Near a small shoreline by the bay, Demidevimon paced back and forth on the deck on an old tugboat he'd somehow acquired.

"What happened? They're both late." He muttered. Demidevimon perked up as the carriage rolled in. "Lady Despair, Lord Myotismon, you must hurry!"

The carriage stopped, the door opened letting an unconscious body fell out. It was that of a blonde tourist, she too, was bitten and need of medical attention. Myotismon wiped his mouth with a smirk as a smiling Lady Despair looked on.

"It's almost dawn!" Demidevimon informed them.

Myotismon replied. "There's no need to rush. Now that the Chosen Children and all eight guardians are here, it's will be necessary to increase our powers to fight them in this world."

"True, but the best thing would be not to draw much attention." Demidevimon worried.

Myotismon turned to face him. "It doesn't matter. In the end, this world will soon fall into my grasp."

"And with it, many more. Come, My Child. You need more blood, and I need the fear and pain they feel as you envelop them in your dark embrace and drain them." Lady Despair chuckled into the night air.

* * *

August 2nd already. Things had happened so quickly Beth could still hardly believe she and the girls were about to meet up with the same kids they'd babysat in the Digiworld.

"Last night, an unidentified creature appeared in the Shibaura docks…"

They were finishing breakfast in Beth's bedroom so they can listen to the news, at their feet were the pets.

"In other news… several women were taken into emergencies due to severe, unexplained blood loss. Doctors are at a loss what could've caused it and further baffled with two small puncture marks found on the victim's necks. We urge our viewers to proceed with extreme caution."

This one had all three girls stop eating briefly and look at each other.

"You don't think..." Kylie said in hushed tone.

"Could it? He's a digimon, not an actual vampire like in the books." Dana said looking unnerved.

"But he's a living manifestation of the black magic in Lady Despairs black blood," Beth explains. "This might be his way of increasing his powers, like how his creator feeds on negative emotions."

"Then it is him..." Kylie grips her neck. "Those poor girls..."

Not long afterwards they, the other guardians joined the children at the park as their meeting point. Tai, Izzy, Matt and T.K. were already there waiting for them with Haruna and Theo.

Izzy then explained that the previous evening, he'd detected a signal from the eight Chosen child in Shibaura.

"Good morning!" Sora and Piyomon arrived.

Yui walked up. "I'm not late, am I?"

"Nope, we made just in time." Sara G smiled.

Mimi came up pushing a baby stroller with Palmon riding in it, except she wore a bonnet.

"Palmon, you're heavy." complained Mimi. "Come out."

"I don't want to! Besides, you told me to stay in here, Mimi!"

"Not anymore, the ride's over." Mimi frowned.

"We're still missing one of us." Beth noted.

At that moment, Zaira came running up to them out of breath. "Sorry, just barely managed to get out to the house to catch the train."

In the next five minutes they were sitting in a circle.

"This is causing a stir all over the city." Sora brought up.

"Since early morning, the TV news kept reporting everything related to the invading digimon." said Matt.

"But it's weird." Tai commented.

"What is?" Agumon asked.

Tai leaned back thoughtfully. "When Agumon, Theo and I came back to this world earlier, the Digimon appeared then as well. But, back then, only we and Kari could see them. But this time it's different, there's a lot more witnesses and it's enough to catch the media's attention."

"Do you think it's because they used Myotismon's Gate to get here?" questioned Izzy.

"You said the gate was like a portal to other words, I suppose it would make some sense." Haruna speculated.

Matt nodded. "That must be it. If more Digimon used that Gate to enter our world…"

T.K. looked greatly frightened. "It would be horrible."

Briefly they imagined an ominous scenario of the city ablaze with Digimon swarming all over.

"Oh no, please." Mimi fearfully held her yearbook.

"What you're saying could easily come true!" Izzy concurred seriously.

"Well, we can't let that happen," Theo spoke up, "Even if some of them are chill, just the sight of them will scare off half the no maj population."

"That's why we should hurry up and find the ninth child, so we can make sure that won't happen! And to save the Digimon world!" Tai determined.

They all agreed.

"Hey!" A voice shouted out, causing the group to jump. Have they been discovered?

But it was only Joe, who had Gomamon in a duffel bag. "I'm late because I had a hard time finding my old phone book!"

Izzy then reminded them that the eighth child should have seen the Digimon with them when the incident occurred in Hikarigaoka four years ago. "What's also important is what happened in Shibaura last night."

"Does that mean they live in Shibaura?" Mimi guessed.

"They could have moved like we did." Matt observed.

"That's why I think we should separate into groups and make a thorough search in Shibaura." suggested Izzy.

"Are you sure you don't have a magic mirror or something to help?" T.K. asked the guardians.

Beth answered. "Not at hand presently, either we misplaced it or it's sitting at the bottom of our school trunks."

"Why not ask that lady Vanessa then?" Mimi questioned.

Sara G replied, "We did. She said no more spoilers, but gave us a second clue: that it's a girl, and she's literally right under our noses."

The kids let out sounds of surprise.

"Good, then that narrows down our search!" Sora smiled.

"But we don't want this kid to slip through our grasp again." said Matt. "Everyone agree?"

"That's fine with me." Mimi held up her Wakaba Preschool yearbook on the front of it. "So, what do we do with these phone books?"

"There's a good chance that the eighth child is listed in one of them. We need to call and ask if anyone had been in Shibaura last night." Izzy answered.

Joe raised his hand. "I have a summer course starting tomorrow. I'll make my phone calls, but I'll have sit out from going all the way to Shibaura."

"What?" The kids protested.

"That's not fair!" Tai scolded.

Joe flushed embarrassedly. "I can't help it, I'm studying for my entrance exams!"

Beth sighed but said to him. "Just do yourself a favor, Joey Jo-jo: Keep the digivice and Gomamon close at all times, you never know what else might happen."

Mimi then handed Joe her phone book. "Then make my phone calls for me, okay? There's my address book from Wakaba Preschool."

"That's a good idea." Matt handed his yearbook to Joe. "Here's mine from Dai-yon Elementary School. I'm counting on you."

"It might be a good idea if one of us focuses on making the calls." Izzy was the next one to hand over his yearbook much to Joe's dismay.

"He has a point. Thank you!" Sora was the last to hand in hers.

Tai walked up to the overburdened older boy, looking apologetic. "Relax. I'm not one of those kids who push their workload on others."

"Oh man, you're such a great guy!" Joe said gratefully.

"No need to say that much."

"He didn't find his phone book, did he?" Sora questioned Izzy as they walked away.

"How'd you guess?" Zaira asked sarcastically.

Beth stopped in her tracks. "And one more thing." She turns to Kylie. "Sorry, but it's best if you head home or give Joe a helping hand with those phone books. Don't forget, Myotismon's after you too. And I bet anything that Lady Despair's aching for a chance to finish you off."

Kylie was indignant. "To sit around and wait for news while there are other digimon running about? You know we can't afford to do so!"

Tai stepped in. "Hey, mind if I make a suggestion?"

After much convincing, they persuaded Kylie to head back to the Kamiya apartment and keep a close on Kari (with an accurate description from Tai, Theo and Zaira). She couldn't back out of it either, after one of the girls called the Kamiya residence informing Tai and Kari's mother, Yuuko, about returning a lost item belonging to Tai. Much to Kylie's chagrin, she bought the excuse.

By searching Shibaura that also meant the surrounding districts and rail stops such as: Mita, Shirokane, Kaigan, Tamachi, Shinagawa, Hamamatsucho, Sengakuji.

The heroes, minus Kylie, headed for the train station at station at Hinode where they would split up into three groups. They could see the damage from last night, just by looking out the window.

"That's how everything looks after the fight…" Tai mumbled.

"It looks disastrous." Matt observed.

"The eighth child is around there." T.K. said soberly.

What none of them knew was that at the same time they were headed for Shibaura and the surrounding neighborhoods, DemiDevimon was directing the tugboat which carried the hearse.

"If I remember right, this is where the eighth child was last night." He pondered aloud.

Meanwhile inside the carriage… "Feed..." Lady Despair held out her wrist.

"But Mother..." Myotismon trailed off in shock.

"We have to elude detection, and those weak mortals blood won't give you the boost you need," Sierra cups his face with her other hand. "A mother's duty is to provide for her child's health and well-being."

Looking out of the train windows, Dana could've sworn she'd seen a tugboat carrying the hearse in direction of Odaiba just before the train went through the tunnel.

As the tugboat entered the Odaiba neighborhood, a heavy fog began to shield it from view. The workers in the Fuji TV building too notice of the strange weather.

"Look outside. It's foggy. I've never seen fog this thick before."

"I heard there was even snow falling in Tama. What is causing all of these strange phenomena?"

The tugboat reached its destination: a square park on an old fortified island, better known as Daiba Park to the locals. The carriage rolled off then onto the grounds directly onto the center. Thanks to Despair's instructions, a pocket dimension had been created specifically to serve as headquarters.

"We've been awaiting your arrival. Lord Myotismon, Lady Despair!"

Myotismon merely walked out to survey the area, aiding Lady Despair in steeping out.

"This is an ideal spot. From now on, this place shall serve our headquarters." The vampire declared.

"Alright then, spread out and continue the search!" Lady Despair ordered.

Gatomon emerged upwards and had begun walking away before Demidevimon flew up towards her.

"Where do you think you're going, Gatomon?"

"You know it's our mission is to look for the eighth child and to bring back Sirene's daughter."

"You wanna sabotage my findings, dontcha? That's just like you!"

"What?"

"Go ahead, deny it! Deny it! You can't, can ya? I'm the one who found the eighth child first so I should be the one to catch him first AND bring back Sirene's daughter. "

Gatomon haughtily looked away. "Don't be dumb, the eighth child couldn't possibly stay in the same place. And second, chances are the guardians wouldn't allow Sirene's daughter to leave the protective enchantments around their domicile."

"If that's what you think, then I take it you won't have a problem with searching another area. Good luck finding either one, good-bye!" He flew off in direction of Shibaura with a snicker.

Gatomon scowled and hissed in annoyance. She might as well search around Odaiba.

* * *

Theo and Beth were with Mimi and Sora walking around several of the apartment and neighborhoods while Piyomon and Palmon were in the stroller. Only they were arguing with each other.

"You're smothering me! Why don't you go fly, Piyomon?" Palmon whined.

"Palmon, I think you've gotten fatter!" Piyomon shot back.

"That's rude!"

"Don't fight, you two." Sora scolded them. "That's not how young ladies behave."

"That's right! So don't make us turn the stroller around!" Beth also rebuked.

"Could the eighth child really be around here?" Mimi wondered as she held out the digivice. "Also… it's really hot!"

* * *

Meanwhile, at the edge of Odaiba beach, Gatomon was watching a group beach goers gathered for a wind surfing event.

"How carefree they are. There's not a chance the eighth child is among them." She said as she walked away on all fours as not to draw any attention.

Also, Kylie had arrived to the Kamiya apartment finding no one home but Kari, who was searching for the family cat. She found Tai's little sister to be a sweet little girl and dare she say it, far more aware than perceived. While talking to her, Kylie was surprised to learn she already knew the older girl was another fairy like Theo and she mentioned how Vanessa had been nice enough to sit back and talk to her until her brother and parents returned home the day before.

The blonde agreed to help her search in the nearby park, not knowing it was the very same one Gatomon was searching.

"Where could he have gotten to now?" Kari wondered.

Just then, she walked right by Gatomon. The cat digimon looked back at the little girl before Kari smiled at her.

"Hey, aren't you a friend of Agumon?" asked the eight year old.

Gatomon immediately tensed up, and turned around until she was staring at Kari face to face. Kylie, who'd been helping Kari retrieve Miko, turned and gasped under her breath. "Gatomon!"

The teenage girl reached Kari's side quickly. The little girl was too busy staring at Gatomon.

"You are, aren't you?" Kari asked, taking Gatomon's stance as a confirmation.

Seeing, Kylie stand protectively near the girl, Gatomon quickly recovered by attempting to meow like a house cat.

This time, Kari kneeled down to her eye level. "What's your name?"

Gatomon meowed again before running off.

"Wait!" Kari cried.

Kylie gently put a hand on Kari's shoulder. "Never mind her. Come, Kari I'll walk you back home."

Gatomon watched Kylie gently accompany Kari back to the apartment.

That girl… she thought. How does she know about Agumon? And in company of the Nymph's daughter no less? Could she be the eighth child?

Gatomon followed them closely but at a respectful distance. Kari was soon back in the apartment complex and unlocking the door, Kylie had stopped briefly and from the look of it Kari had also noticed, judging by what happened next.

"Come over here!" Kari turned her head and called out.

Kylie whipped her head around in time to see Gatomon yowl and duck behind a corner. Now she couldn't leave Kari alone with Gatomon lurking around.

"My mom's out and won't be back for a little bit. I'll leave the door open." She insistently pulled Kylie's hand, so that they could walk inside.

"This extreme humidity in the Tokyo Bay area of Odaiba is rare, even for summer, and the cause behind it is unknown." The TV had been turned on.

Kari and Kylie were sitting on the couch. Gatomon walked in and sat near the edge of the couch, observing them closely. Kylie, carefully kept glancing at her uneasily every now and then.

* * *

"Why do we have to keep doing this when we just got back home?" Mimi complained.

"The same reason you two still go to school: To have a future." Theo replied flatly. "The world isn't going to accommodate itself for you, life is already a big gamble. Only instead of money, it's yourself, your life, mind, etc. no matter what you do. Whatever happens, it's usually just either a coincidence or a consequence of something."

They were sitting on a bench under some trees.

"Where do you come up with this stuff?"

"That's the conclusion I figured out since I was thirteen." Theo answered, taking a swig of water.

Mimi leaned back, "I slept in a soft bed last night with the A/C on. That's when it sunk that home is the best place in the world."

"The food was delicious too." Palmon chimed in.

Beth smiled remembering when she and her sisters returned to Kibou Manor the day before. "The pets and almost every wild stray beast the family had taken in to help or rehabilitate sure gave me and my sisters a warm welcome... it's as if they knew we'd been away."

"The food at Sora's house was wonderful!" Piyomon cheerfully told the other two. "Sora's mother looked very kind, too. Right, Sora?"

Sora smiled Yeah.

"Still I'm worried about Kylie," Beth said. "I'd hoped leaving the Digital world meant we could leave that Myotismon business behind...but he's here now, and his 'Creator' is the one responsible for her birth mother's death!"

Sora looked thoughtful. "You know, it's strange. We hear a lot of mention of her mother, but what about her father? I mean, there has to be, right?"

"I don't know, mythology teaches us some higher beings can have kids without a partner," Beth said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I don't know." Theo said uncertainly. "She must've married someone, Sirene, I mean..."

"Maybe she fell in love with a digimon like Kylie." Palmon pipes up.

"Okay, first of all. Don't joke like that," Theo huffed. "And second, Myotismon isn't a GENUINE digimon. He's an eldritch monster made from a twisted sorceress' mystic blood that just happens to look and act like a vampire."

Sora was looking at a city map and checking the areas they'd had already explored. "Who knows? It's a question only those who know Sirene or the nymph herself can answer. Now, back to work… Let's see…"

"She's really focused…" Mimi whispered to Palmon. "Isn't she or any of the other girls hot?"

"They just have different levels of endurance." Palmon replied.

"I'd rather stay as a delicate girl." Mimi sighed.

"Not with the intense pressure and anxiety to always be a perfect obedient little doll from those misogynists or greedy relatives that want you to be something you're not. They don't want to know your true self, half the adults here only want to think you're a perfect little princess." Beth grumbled.

"Sounds like a lot of work." Palmon remarked.

"Well, that takes the fun out being a girly-girl." Mimi groaned. She looked up then something made her stand up and grin brightly. "Hey, why don't we try a place that has crowds of people?"

"Crowds of people?"

"Yes, over there!"

Mimi pointed right over to Tokyo tower, which was just several yards ahead of them. The older girls had to admit, it would be a good place to start.

They went inside, taking the elevator and stepped into the observation deck. Of course, the other three girls might've figured Mimi had made the suggestion to take advantage of the air conditioning but went along with it to see if they have any luck finding the eighth child.

"What a cool breeze!"

"Feels great!"

The AC vents suddenly died.

"It's getting warmer." Mimi moaned.

The rest of the people on the deck had also noticed and were complaining.

"Maybe the air conditioner broke." Sora assumed before Mimi suddenly scoffed indignantly

"How is he able to wear a full-length coat in this summer heat?!" Mimi questioned about a very large man in a trench coat. "I feel hotter just locking at him!"

"Mimi, he'll hear you." Sora tried to shush her.

"But it's true."

Beth lightly smacked her arm, "Show a little decorum, the man's probably deformed and is too self-conscious."

The man turned around to face them.

"If we get kicked out, Mimada, it'll be all your..." Theo was about to scold Mimi but what happened next made her stammer. "Fault?"

The 'man' had burned off his coat, revealing to have blue hair, chains wrapped around his muscular body and face made completely of metal.

"It's a Digimon!" Piyomon and Palmon cried.

"I'm not merely ANY Digimon," The beastly creature scoffed. "I am SkullMeramon, and I've been hoping to run into you, Theone."

Theo looked alarmed.

"You know my name?" Theo asked in shock.

"Of course, The Mad artist told me all about you," SkullMeramon leers at her in a sick way. "She said: 'Rip out the heart of the flame guardian, consume it as it still beats and your flame will never go out.' And I intend to do just that!"

Fortunately most of the people had fled in fear, which gave Theo and Beth cover to transform and the younger girls' digimon to digivolve.

"Don't count on it!" Beth snapped.

Theo took the ominous threat as a challenge. "Come and get me!" Theo taunted. She waved her arms through the air.

"Flame Dart!" Theo shot forth at the Mon. But he absorbed the blast with a metallic like laugh.

"Poor little Pixie," SkullMeramon flung out a chain which entangled Theo.

"THEO! Beth screamed as Theo was slammed into the ground, and dragged towards the digimon.

"My Lady seeks you fairies to die, slowly, and painfully," SkullMeramon explained. "She loathes the child of Sirene the most, and that's precisely why she is saving her for last."

His body burned brighter, as he lifted his flaming foot up, and tried to step on Theo.

"Fire Shield of Pele!" Theo cried out, barely erecting the shield which resisted the boot.

"Oh, a little fire left, huh?" SkullMeramon mocked. "It's futile, I burn brighter, and hotter then you, little fairy, and My Lady will have what she wants. So I may get what I want!"

"Palmon, we have to help her!" Mimi said to her digimon.

"You heard her, Piyomon!" Sora said to her partner.

"Piyomon, Digivolve to...BIRDRAMON!"

"QUINTESSENCE: AC-BLIZZARD!" Beth shot lightning from her hands, and the lightning struck the dead AC'S bringing them to life.

They immediately pelted SkullMeramon with frigid blasts, which caused steam to rise from his being, and he stumbled away from Theo.

And with that, Birdramon crashed into SkullMeramon, sending him flying out of the window, as he didn't see her till it was too late.

"Meteor Wing!" Sadly that was ineffective seeing as he was already a fire digimon.

"Needle spray!"

SkullMeramon merely burned them all before throwing a chain whip of blue fire right in Togemon's face.

"Togemon!" Mimi shouted.

The chain welding Digimon just laughed in sadistic glee at what he just did. At that moment, Kabuterimon arrived with Sara and Zaira flying alongside him while Tai and Izzy rode on him.

"Heavy Metal Fire!" SkullMeramon blew out a blast of blue fire at Kabuterimon, the insect and the fairies dodged.

But to their horror, the attack hit a metal beam, melting it and causing Tokyo Tower to start to tilt over to the side.

"Ah! The tower is falling! Kabuterimon, hold it up!" Izzy called out.

Kabuterimon does so, but that leaves them open.

"I'll burn you to the ground, and consume the heart of the Fairy of Fire!" SkullMeramon declared.

"We won't!" Tai shouts holding out his digivice.

"Let that happen!" Agumon finished.

Agumon digivolved into Greymon, and after kicking SkullMeramon in the chest, he used his Megaflame on the beast. But it absorbed the attack, and the digimon grew larger and the flames turned blue on its body.

Theo was prepared to hurl an attack at him, but Beth held her off.

"It's no use, Theo. He's a creature of fire," Beth warned. "He'll just grow more powerful, and you'll just drain your magic!"

Theo growled hating that she was helpless. Greymon leaps into the air to avoid a strike from SkullMeramon, and digivolved into MetalGreymon.

The two giant digimon charged and came to a clash, both struggling to push the other onto their side. But seemed to be that MetalGreymon wasn't enough, as SkullMeramon forced the Digimon to his knees.

Birdramon flew past the blue flamed digimon and struck him, and Beth flew at him, summoning star shaped shurikens of energy to hurl at the beast. They exploded against him, but seemed to have no effect. And Togemon tried to jump on his back, only to jump off in flames.

"Ahh!" Togemon screamed.

"Togemon! Get a hold of yourself, honestly!" Mimi yelled.

"We have to do something, or at least find help!" Theo said worried for her friends.

"Hang in there, Togemon!" Sara G yelled, a flick of her wrists brought a fire extinguisher which she broke open the nozzle and extinguished the flames.

"Heavy Metal Fire!" SkullMeramon blew out a blast of blue flames, striking Beth, Birdramon.

"BETH!" Theo screamed. She flew out to save Beth, only to be caught in the chains of SkullMeramon, and pulled in close as a hostage.

"Not another step!" SkullMeramon warned Metal Greymon. "Or I'll snap her pretty neck."

"NO! Theo!" They all called out in alarm.

Suddenly, everything seemed to get dark, and when everyone looked up, a large storm cloud had gathered in the sky, and unseen to them a transparent Dark Spectre Queen appeared, waving her arms through the air.

And immediately, it started to snow, and the snow fell onto the melting metal of the tower, stopped the melting and iced it over, so the tower remained in place.

Togemon sighed in relief as the snow put out any damage the flames have caused, and seemed to heal her, as was it did to Birdramon.

"Ahh! Ahhh!" SkullMeramon cried out in pain. "What's happening, where did this snow come from!?" He released Theo, throwing her to be caught by Metal Greymon. "MY STRENGTH! IT HURTS!"

The flames on SkullMeramon went out, and the digimon shrunk back to his normal form, and was encased in solid ice. The snow piled up, and seemed to restore the Tokyo Tower back to its original state.

And taking advantage of this unexpected snowfall, and fired from his chest two missiles, which blew SkullMeramon to snow slush.

"Wow, what a stroke of luck." Mimi cheered.

"Luck...or divine intervention?" Beth said as she flew over to Theo.

Both heard a woman's ethereal, echoing laugh, as the clouds in the sky dissipated, leaving the hot sun to shine on them once more.

* * *

Back in the Kamiya home, the news was already reporting on the fight at Tokyo tower. "According to eye-witness reports, monsters have been seen fighting each other."

There's something that tells me she is not an ordinary child. Gatomon thought while observing Kari as she and Kylie watched the news. The best thing to do would be to finish her now.

"Speculation has arisen that this may be connected to the uproar about monsters that occurred yesterday." The report continued.

In a bound, Gatomon hopped onto the back of the couch and slowly approached the eight year old child. Kylie tensed, watching out of the corner of her eye. Gatomon lifted her claw, while the teenage girl gathered a spark of magic ready to stop the cat digimon...

Gatomon had been bring about to bring down her paw, when Kari turned around with a sweet innocent smile on her face. This made Gatomon stop in place, caught off guard.

"Come here." Kari offered her hands in hopes for Gatomon to jump into them.

Kylie turned to look directly at Gatomon, who stumbled backwards onto the floor. Gatomon sat up, shaking herself, then went back to all fours and began walking for the door.

"You're leaving already?" Kari asked innocently, causing Gatomon to look over her shoulder at her and at Kylie.

The blonde teenager was eyeing Gatomon stoically.

"You'll come back to visit me, right?" Kari asked again.

Gatomon merely ran out of there, not understanding why she'd hesitated in her strike. She was unsure, she couldn't be certain the child was the 8th without proof, but as she left the apartment complex, she was immediately caught by the scruff, and pulled up to look into a pair of Violet Eyes.

"So far off the path, I barely see the promise of what you are...but your soul knows the truth, and Kari will shed light on it." The Dark Spectre Queen laughed, and her eyes glow purple. "But until such time, and even after just for safety. By My Will, I Geass Thee!"

Gatomon was overcome by a strange sensation, like fire sizzling her whole frame as the voice of the Dark Spectre Queen spoke.

"You shall not reveal the identity of this child, by action, word, or thought. None shall divine from you her identity."

And with that, Gatomon was flung from the apartments and landed on her feet, but when she looked up, the sorceress had vanished.

Kylie watched the scene, having made sure Kari would remain in the apartment until her mother returned home. At least Tai's little sister would be safe for the time being, but she couldn't sit around and wait for the others to return home. No she had to try and join the search while there was still some daylight left.

**_To be continued…_**


	22. Pumpkinmon & Gotsumon

Many things can be said of Kylie Pantheon, but most know she's rather quiet. Nobody's perfect of course and she has a fair share of flaws too. Exercising caution while knowing her "spurned" leman or any of his henchmen could searching after her too was not one of them.

It was 7:30 pm. She was currently holding up both a GPS and a scrying crystal. Briefly she looked up.

Hm, the weather forecast never said anything about it being a cloudy night. Let alone rain clouds… but why wasn't this storm cloud moving downwind?

Wait a minute.

Just to be safe, Kylie walked a little faster turned to a corner, it went the same direction. When she stepped through the crosswalk to her left, it went left. Wherever she went, it followed!

Frightened, Kylie ducked into a store, bought a scarf before pulling up her braid and tucking it in as she waited for the cloud to pass. Next she stepped out, furtively looking left and right before walking down one street.

But of course, a few of the streetlamps had to fizzle out causing her to yelp. She quickly covered her own mouth before warily moving away.

Only to hear footsteps. Getting closer... closer... and closer!

Kylie speed walked. Then, she began jogging which soon became a full-fledged run. Frantic, she scrunched her eyes shut and began swinging her messenger bag around at her would be pursuer.

"Hold, it, hold it!"

"Kylie, it's us!"

Wait she recognized to those voices. Kylie opened her eyes to see Matt, T.K., Yui and Haruna.

"You nearly gave me heart failure!" Kylie gasped.

At a careful look she noticed they were missing someone. "But where's Patamon? And Dana?"

The brothers with Yui and Haruna's help, explained what had happened.

* * *

When night fell, Matt intended on taking T.K. to Sangenjaya which was part of the Setagaya Ward where their mother lived. Tsunomon and Patamon were on the luggage railing.

"Did you know Matt and T.K.'s parents divorced four years ago?" Tsunomon asked.

"So even though they're brothers, Matt lives with his father and T.K. lives with his mother, huh?" Patamon noted.

Yui, Haruna and looked at each other. They didn't want to say anything regarding the topic, it might've felt intrusive.

T.K. looked at his digivice which was working like a clock, the hour read 7:07 pm. "It's late. Onii-chan."

"Hm?"

"Just leave me at the next stop."

"No, I'll take you all the way to Sangenjaya."

"It's okay."

"T.K."

"What?"

"Let me do this."

"Okay." The youngest brother agreed.

Both of them found it hard to part from each other, and Patamon seemed to sense that because he asked, "Is it really that hard to leave each other?"

"Shut up!" T.K. had become visibly upset at the question.

"T.K.!" Even Matt was stunned.

"Hey, now that wasn't very nice!" Yui said to the little boy.

"You don't have to shout at me like that!" Patamon said indignantly.

Dana tried to reason with T.K. "C'mon, he doesn't know it's sensitive subject!"

T.K. actually jumped off his seat and glared up at Patamon. "Even if you're my Digimon, you have no right to say that!"

Sure, T.K. is still a little kid and Patamon is in child stage, with more of less the mind of one – save for when he digivolves. It's a known fact that younger children can quarrel over many things, but always make up.

"Fine! I won't talk anymore!"

"Patamon!" Tsunomon gasped.

That was when the train pulled up at Shibuya station. "I'm getting off here!" Patamon flew out the doors.

"No, wait!" Dana actually leaped right out of the train to run after him.

"Dana, come back!" Haruna and Yui cried in shock. How did that just happen?

"Patamon!" Matt called. He, Yui and Haruna rushed to the doors. "T.K.! Patamon flew off!"

T.K.'s back was turned to them and he had his hands in fists. "Who cares about him…"

"The door is going to close!" Tsunomon warned.

Matt then reminded his brother. "T.K..."

"Please T.K., Dana ran after him. We have to go after them both. What if they get lost?" Haruna pleaded.

As soon as the doors started the close, T.K. rushed over to join them. They looked around but found no sign of Patamon or Dana, in the station nor in the more popular streets of Shibuya.

"Where could Patamon have gone? What was he thinking?" questioned Tsunomon.

"This happened because T.K yelled at him." Matt said bluntly.

"He deserved it!" T.K. snapped.

"Don't get mad at me."

"Onii-chan…" T.K. looked back at his brother sadly. "I'm sorry."

"You went too far when you spoke to Patamon."

"Yes, Dana got it right: He didn't know." Haruna explained calmly.

"I didn't mean to yell… because he told the truth…" T.K. admitted

They found themselves in Shibuya. People in Shibuya paid no attention to other people. Then Haruna was explaining how they'd soon ran into a pair of mischievous digimon that had arrived with Myotismon's army but were more interested in having fun than searching for the eighth child or Kylie. They ran into such a duo as tall as two children that would have caused screaming in an average no maj town while they were walking down Spain Hill.

Tsunomon digivolved to Gabumon in a protective manner.

Yui squealed. "OMG! They're adorable!"

"They're like something out of Halloween town," Haruna says with a guileless grin. "I swear if Zero's wandering here too, I'm no good for the week."

"You two work for Myotismon, don't you?" Gabumon confronted the two digimon

"There's a Shibuya lady even scarier than Myotismon chasing after us!" the Digimon who, for all the world, had the head of a lit-up Halloween pumpkin, said. What made him slightly different from a regular pumpkin was the large ax buried in the top of his head.

The group looked at them agape, while a girl's shrill cry of "Where did you go?!" came from below the hill. The two Digimon hid at the side of the road.

A college girl came running towards them, waving her bag as blood dripped down her nose. Upon closer inspection, the girl had a large nose-piercing which was where the blood was coming out of. The pumpkin Digimon must have pulled at it. Matt pointed in another direction to send her away.

* * *

"There was no time to decide whether the two Digimon could be trusted or not." Haruna said as they all started passing by some shops, "We need to find both Patamon and Dana, then we ended up trying to keep Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon out of trouble."

"But those two digimon are very mischievous…" Gabumon said then suddenly yelped.

Yui followed his gaze then shared his alarm. "AAH! That's them!"

There were the two digimon they'd mentioned. AND they were trying on the store's outfits in the display window! One resembled a plush toy Digimon with a pumpkin head that has an axe stuck in it and a torn green cape. The second was had a body made of gray rocks. It has yellow eyes and two rocks on its head that resemble bear ears. It has three fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot.

Currently they were trying out a little pink dress and a blue overalls with a white shirt and red bowtie.

"Those guys…" Matt and T.K. groaned in exasperation.

"I think this dress will look better on you!" Pumpkinmon said to Gotsumon

"I was thinking the same thing."

They switched outfits, already having left a pile of clothes off to the side.

"Pumpkinmon! Gotsumon!"

The group's arrival got their attention.

"Do you want to wear stuff, too?" asked Gotsumon.

"Oh no, that's not necesa-" Kylie tried to protest gently.

"Wear it!"

Matt now wore a too long coat, T.K. in an outfit resembling what he wore while refereeing that tug of war at the Village of Beginnings and Gabumon was now in a bear costume.

Yui looked like she was wearing Mary Poppins's white dress and hat. Haruna was in a blue yukata and Kylie in a French pre-revolutionary dress.

"You look great!" Theo mischievous digimon complimented.

"And these are supposedly two digimon that joined Myotismon's army?" Haruna questioned doubtfully.

"That are after the eight child and Kylie, the nymph's daughter?" Yui jerked a thumb at Kylie then clapped her own hand over her mouth, realizing what she just said.

"It IS you!" Gotsumon slapped his cheeks, gawking at Kylie. "Wow, you're as pretty as your mom is in the paintings!"

"Paintings!?" Kylie exclaimed in shock. Even Matt and T.K. glanced at her with deep intrigue.

"Yeah, you are the whole reason we joined Myotismon," Pumpkinmon stayed. "Everyone from our continent talked about Sirene, and have statues and other stuff that looks like her, so we figured we would meet her daughter and it would be the closest thing."

"Except for the eyes, but they seem like how a kind, beautiful nymph eyes would be," Pumpkinmon said.

"So you're not going to tell your Master about running into us?" Yui asked hesitantly.

"Nah!" Pumpkin and Gotsumon shook their heads, grinning widely.

"That doesn't sound like fun." Pumpkinmon replied.

"Yeah, then that bad lady would wanna get rid of you if sees you're with him."

The group exchanged uneasy glances. Did they mean Lady Despair?

"Well thank you, I appreciate the sentiment." Kylie smiled sheepishly.

At that moment Patamon was seen flying out the window with a harried looking Dana.

"Patamon! Dana!" T.K. called them, but the digimon and the youngest guardian didn't seem to hear.

"After them!" Matt cried.

"Right!" the others removed the outfits and hurried out.

Even Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon looked around in interest.

"Think we should we follow?"

"Yeah!"

And they ran after the group. Unfortunately, the brothers, older girls and Gabumon lost sight of their strayed friends and were now passing through a park road in disappointment.

"We lost them again…" T.K. mumbled downcast.

"Could Patamon still be mad?" Matt.

"I know him well, he's not usually this stubborn…" Gabumon said with shrug.

"You weren't kidding when you said Dana can move as fast as she wants to." T.K. commented to Kylie.

"Right now I just wish she'd let us know WHERE they are." Kylie replied.

Yui tried to cheer them up. "We're bound to run into them sooner or later."

Abruptly Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon came up to them holding ice cream.

"Come on, cheer up!" Pumpkinmon grinned.

"You'll find your friend soon." Gotsumon said.

"And have some ice cream!"

"You know I could go for some- wait a minute." Haruna had begun then paused.

Matt, T.K., Yui and Kylie seemed to share her expression. They were clearly thinking the same thing.

"Where did you get that ice cream?" Gabumon questioned uneasily.

"We stole it!" The two rascals responded cheerfully.

Haruna visibly sweat-dropped. "I was afraid of that."

Pumpkinmon licked a pumpkin spice flavored ice cream cone. Gotsumon was eating sweet potato ice cream. When the vendor came after the two thieves, the small group also had to run away since they had been spotted together with them.

They ran for a good five minutes before losing sight of the vendor in a darkened street, where they stopped to catch their breath.

"Want some?" Pumpkinmon offering the ice cream.

Matt, T.K. and the girls quickly declined. But Gabumon was eyeing the frozen treat in spite of himself. "Matt, I want ice cream too."

"Gabumon..." Matt mumbled uneasily.

"Why don't I just take that and I could help pay for a few Hagen daaz cartons...?" Kylie suggested.

A chill wind and a rumble of thunder made them stop what they were doing. They all glanced up to see a storm cloud crackling ominously.

"Was... it this cloudy when we got here?" Yui asked nervously.

Next, lightning struck the ground just a mere five feet away from them. As the smoke cleared... they gazed in fear at who was standing before them.

"Lord Myotismon!" Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon were so frightened they dropped the ice cream.

"Myotismon!" The group gasped.

Kylie froze right on the spot, this is what she'd been trying to avoid. Slowly, the vampire looked from the group, his gaze lingering on Kylie for a moment before glaring at the two shivering digimon.

"Pumpkinmon, Gotsumon." Myotismon coldly addressed his grunts.

"Y-Yes, sir?"

"You were supposed to report immediately when you discovered Sirene's heir." Myotismon said lowly.

"Eh, we didn't want to..." Gotsumon said bluntly.

"What!?" Myotismon roared.

"Wh-wh-what we mean," Pumpkinmon said nervously. "If we did tell you, what would stop that evil Lady from hurting her!?"

"My Creator is to be treated with fear and respect," Myotismon intones. "But...on this matter, we are...conflicted." He sets his eyes on Kylie, which softened on seeing the Nymph's daughter.

"But rest assured, I will ensure no harms come to you, my bride." Myotismon said with a hand reaching out to her.

"No, I can't...she's responsible for my mother's death." Kylie said with a shake of her head.

"No?" Myotismon said shocked, and more than a little angry. "Do you realize what I am offering you? The world, immortality, ecstasy..."

"Do you seriously believe SHE will allow it?" Kylie shot back worriedly. "She MADE you, Myotismon. She will surely not allow such sentiment as you being her child, stop her from doing what she wants to do to me!"

"This quest just got a lot more drama added into the mix..." Yui mumbled to Haruna awkwardly.

Matt, T.K. and Gabumon looked just as uncomfortable. By this time, the whole group knew about Kylie's romantic entanglement with Myotismon… and the grave implications that followed.

"As much as you want it, the truth is you're not free!" Kylie added sadly.

"I shall be the one deciding about my own life when the time comes!" Myotismon declared sternly then he glared down at Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon. "And what of your search for the eighth child?"

"We haven't found him yet." the two digimon responded fearfully.

"Then why aren't you stealing the Crests from these children? Redeem yourselves to me by stealing the crests, bring the nymph's heir or else!"

"That's just what we were about to do!" Without a warning, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon spun around to the group with wicked sneers.

"Run for it!" Yui grabbed both Matt and T.K.'s wrists, pulling them to run.

Of course the older girls could've transformed just as Gabumon could've digivolved to fight, but they didn't have the heart to attack the two digimon even if they are troublemakers.

* * *

While the others were being chased, Patamon perched himself on a border wall and Dana stopped to catch her breath.

"I got so mad I left the train without thinking." He murmured.

"I got caught up in it too." Dana sat down. "But now we lost the others."

Patamon looked at her, feeling a little down in the mouth. "What could T.K. be doing right now?"

The youngest of the guardians patted him gently on his head, then they overheard a conversation between two high school girls in uniform.

"So, like, I said…"

"If you want to meet up somewhere, it should totally be in front of Hachiko's statue."

"Yeah, Hachiko's statue is totally the best place!"

* * *

In the meantime, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon had cornered the group.

"Pumpkinmon!" T.K. shouted.

"This is as far as you go." He said.

"He cut us off from the front." observed Gabumon.

"Get back, T.K."

Gotsumon was behind them, meaning they had the group boxed in.

"Gotsumon!" Matt cried.

"This is as far as you go." He informed.

Several empty plots of land like this surfaced after Japan's bubble economy had burst. Only walls of sheet iron separated it from the building next door. Construction materials were carelessly piled up within the vacant lot, providing a place for them to sit down and rest.

Kylie and the other two girls ushered Matt and T.K. behind them and Gabumon further into the vacant T-shaped lot, flitting behind some sewer pipes that were stacked up high.

"Please, we don't want to hurt you two." Kylie said earnestly.

"Can't we just calm down and talk this over?" Haruna pleaded.

"Maybe settle it with a small harmless challenge?" Yui asked sheepishly.

But it didn't look as though they would be giving the group any other choice. They were backed up against a fence, Gabumon stared back intently ready to digivolve, the three guardians braced themselves…

Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon then dropped their menacing stares.

"Meh, I quit." Pumpkinmon sighed.

"Me too." said Gotsumon.

"Huh?" The group just stood there confused.

"Playing around in Shibuya sounds much more fun than fighting the Chosen children or the Guardians!" Pumpkinmon declared.

"That's right!" Gotsumon agreed.

"And we can't give Sirene's daughter to Myotismon, the bad lady won't let him keep her around!" Pumpkinmon added.

Gotsumon nodded. "Come hang out with us!"

"Huh?" The group blinked.

In the distance, lightning crackled sinisterly.

"Myotismon's coming!" Pumpkinmon shouted.

"You better hide!" Gotsumon urged.

The girls had paused but Matt insisted they take cover in one of the far corners where part of a brick wall kept them from sight. Yui looked up around the area. None of the no majs or any disguised magical users besides them could know of the impending danger. After all, no one so much as batted an eye when they passed with Gabumon or the mischievous duo.

It was only using a compact mirror that they're able to see what was happening. As they hid, fog had started to roll in at ground level. Myotismon approached, revealing himself from within the fog. The mask he wore over his eyes seemed to glow a brighter red, which was not completely because of the neon lights that fell upon him.

"Where are they?" Myotismon asked.

"Unfortunately, we failed to catch them." Pumpkinmon lied.

"We almost had them!" Gotsumon added.

However, the vampire glared down at them. "You… pathetic liars!"

He knew everything. They could tell so by the sound of his voice. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon knew what was coming next.

"I have no more use for you. Grisly Wing!" As he slowly extended out his cape, a large flock of bats burst out.

Despite his appearance, Pumpkinmon was a Perfect level and his offense ability was not at all weak. "Trick or treat!"

The giant pumpkin which he summoned through strange technique had both the mass and the toughness to crush most of his enemies flat in a single blow.

Flying back in the opposite direction, the alpha bats dove into the pumpkin with their mouths wide, stopping it in its descent. The pumpkin was soon covered in bats, becoming a black mass that gradually grew smaller. The bats were eating up the entire pumpkin with their boundless appetite.

"Angry Rock!"

A rock flew at Myotismon but the vampire's eye glowed - his irises and pupils contracting briefly, and the rock stopped just centimeters from his face then exploded!

The bats flew down upon Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon. The two of them disappeared behind a black mass of writhing bats.

Matt, who had been watching the entire thing, covered T.K.'s head with his arms. He never dreamed that Myotismon would lay a hand on his subordinates like this so easily. They wouldn't make it in time to save Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon. The sound of bat wings and the screams gradually faded into quiet.

All that was left of the two digimon was a hatchet and a small rock that became data particles. The girls had covered their faces in horror and sadness when the alpha bats attacked Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon.

"I know you're there." Myotismon said as he leisurely approached their hiding place.

Kylie straightened up. "How could you?!" she'd ended up whispering.

"My Love, they are mere data, meant to serve us higher beings. They overstepped themselves, and we must see to reprimanding the servants." Myotismon said coldly.

"They weren't bad guys…" Matt muttered. Tears were falling from his eyes as he looked up. "And, you didn't have to kill them!"

Taking in Matt's feelings, the gauge of his Digivice shot up to its highest point. The bright light of evolution made Myotismon stop in his tracks.

Within seconds Gabumon digivolved to Garurumon, who pounced out of the lot and pinned Myotismon against a building. The vampire merely punched him away with his left fist.

Yui and Haruna took this chance to transform. Kylie hesitates for a moment before declaring, "I will not endanger my kingdom, my family or my friends!"

And she transforms. They flew up to fight just as Myotismon was using crimson lighting on Garurumon.

Kylie bit her lip and swallowed, once she blinked a circle of seven gold rings appeared behind her. "Seven Crowns!" Kylie chanted, and hurled her strongest attack at Myotismon. He gasped out of shock, as he was hit straight on, and seriously hurt.

"It was only for a little while… but they were our friends and you killed them!" Matt screamed. "Garurumon!"

Garurumon's entire body became wrapped in light. His shape changed in mid-air. The giant wolf turned into a werewolf wearing jeans, and he made a wide kick into the air before the light surrounding him had time to fade.

That kick was still too far away to reach its target. However, a shock-wave born out of it in the shape of a crescent moon flew towards Myotismon.

The shockwaves flew about where they stood, making silent explosions. The street lights smashed to pieces and the glass windows of buildings scattered everywhere.

* * *

The plaza in front of Shibuya station, where the Hachiko statue lay, was a famous spot for people to meet up since a very long time ago. Patamon was looking down from the trees above and Dana looking around right under him.

How were they to find the rest now? He wasn't sure if waiting here would help to find them again, but he could think of no other options.

Just then Dana sat up straight. "Patamon, look!"

They heard the sound of people murmuring. And several blocks away, there was the sound of an explosion. When Dana and Patamon turned to look in its direction, the neon lights within the city were being smashed up one after the other. Myotismon's fierce fight between WereGarurumon and three of the guardians was on the move.

* * *

"Crimson lightning!"

After leaping through the air to land on the wall of "Tokyu Hands," WereGarurumon dug his nails in and made a vertical cartwheel to avoid it. The electric whip smacked into the wall where he had once stood.

"Wolf claw!"

Myotismon, floating in the air beneath him, raised up both arms to block it. However, the force of the impact pushed him backwards into and through the wall of a building behind him.

WereGarurumon, followed by the three guardians, went through the broken part of the building after him.

"Grisly wing!"

Only to be ambushed by a swarm of bats which carried them back out. WereGarurumon used his arms and legs to shake off the bats.

"Rose Petal Storm!" Haruna cried out.

Immediately, cracks formed in the alley ground, and roses appeared to send their petals into the air, they collected onto the bats, causing them to fall helpless to the ground.

"Venus Death-Trap!" Haruna claps her hands together, and the roses turned into giant Venus fly-traps that devoured the bats.

"Bothersome, Botanist." Myotismon crosses his arms for an attack. "Nightmare..."

"STARLIGHT BEAM!" Yui calls out, and out of her hand a beam of yellow starlight nearly hits Myotismon.

"GAhh~" Myotismon dodges, but part of his arm does get singed badly.

Yui flew through the air, and in her hand forms a long, silver Lance, with a hand guard, studded with a sapphire. "Moonlight Sword!" Yui called out.

He barely had time to dodge, when Yui sliced through the air where he stood, and proceeded to stab rapidly at the Vampire. Who barely kept up to block with the palms of his hands, energized by the black blood of his mother he had consumed the previous night.

"Grisly Wing!" Myotismon out both his hands, the black smoke, and bats surging forth.

"Starlight Beam!" Yui flew back, and pointed the lance at Myotismon, which fired a powerful yellow beam of moonlight.

"FOX FIRE!" WereGarurumon opened his mouth, and howling he fired a torrent of blue flames at Myotismon.

"Vine Creeper!" Haruna cried out, and tons of green vines burst out of the ground.

They entangled around Myotismon causing his to lose his defense, and get hit by both attacks, lowering his strength.

"Be reasonable, it's best if you turn yourself in." Haruna said to him, although she kept her guard up.

"I suggest you take your own advice, Guardian!" The vampire retorted the moment he burst free from the vines.

Kylie was up next. "Winter's- oh!"

The next thing she knew, she was being held in place by several of the alpha bats against her will. "Love is slowing you down, my pet," Myotismon had cooed. "I'll make you mine if you love much more."

Neither WereGarurumon, Haruna nor Yui could dodge the red electric whip that came towards them from within the storm of bats.

"How many are there?!" Yui wailed.

Myotismon descended towards the three with a triumphant smirk. Twin red electric whips slowly fell down towards them from both hands.

Matt and T.K., looking up at them from below, were helpless. T.K. was thinking, 'If I hadn't yelled at Patamon, he'd be here right now with Dana and Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon would still be our friends here in Shibuya…and they wouldn't have been destroyed by Myotismon!'

His thoughts reached Patamon, who was flying towards their location with a transformed Dana. The gauge of T.K.'s Digivice shot up.

The people in Shibuya who had been taken aback by the neon explosions, were even further shocked when they witnessed a glittering angel accompanied by a fairy soar over their heads.

Myotismon could feel the light, the power of holy good, approaching him from behind as if by instinct. Angemon moved faster than he had expected, and it took all that Myotismon had to dodge the blow of the golden rod that came towards him.

With one strike from Angemon's staff, the crimson lightning holding down the two other fairies and the werewolf broke and vanished. Dana flew right towards where the bats were holding Kylie and sent a gust to disperse them.

"Dana, you made it!" Kylie gasped.

"Angemon?" WereGarurumon stared.

Haruna and Yui were struck momentarily speechless at the new Digimon that just showed up.

"THIS is Patamon's champion form?!" Haruna gaped.

Angemon, without letting his guard down, stood poised as he spoke to WereGarurumon and the fairies behind him. "Are you alright?" the angel digimon asked them solemnly.

"Yes, more or less." WereGarurumon replied.

Haruna and Yui could only nod speechless.

"Angemon!" T.K. cried out. His voice was happy, but with a touch of fear. He had only seen Angemon once before, and that time…

"T.K.'s feelings reached Patamon!" Matt gasped.

Myotismon sneered at the sight of the angel. "So you're the one who possesses holy powers."

Dana flew up to Angemon's side. "Let's fight him, Angemon."

Angemon nodded. "Let's do it."

If the one with holy powers has arrived, then it would not be wise to stay here long. Myotismon remembered that he still had yet to finish his supper.

The four fairies and two digimon charged, the combination of their attacks unleashed a massive explosion of light in the evening air. The powers of light and darkness collided into each other in Shibuya's skies. As the impact changed color, it expanded large enough to cover the entire city. The glaringly lit city suffered a blackout for the next three minutes.

"We'll see each other again," Myotismon had said to Kylie then addressed the others, "I shall reserve this fight for later."

He then flew away with an ominous laugh.

WereGarurumon and Angemon gently floated downwards before devolving back to child form. Instead of returning to his baby form Tsunomon, WereGarurumon had returned to Gabumon. Matt and T.K. rushed over to them while the fairies flew down to the ground.

"Patamon, are you…?" T.K. tearfully held his digimon.

Behind him, Dana reaches out to gently pat the winged hamster digimon.

"I'm alright this time." Patamon said with a tired little smile.

T.K. hugged Patamon carefully. He didn't die this time, he thought. Thank goodness.

* * *

Not long afterwards, they explained to both Dana and Patamon what had happened when they'd briefly separated from the group. Matt had called ahead to let his and T.K.'s mother to let her know they'd be home a little late.

So it was a somber trip to the station.

"Onii-chan. Over there…" T.K. suddenly pointed.

"That's the costume store where we saw Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon trying out different clothes…" Yui explained with a sad smile.

The group recalled the short time they had with the two. Yes, they were mischievous little rascals but they'd ended up sacrificing their lives attempting to protect them from Myotismon.

Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon's deaths in Shibuya remained vividly in their minds. Matt didn't think that he would ever forget that sight.

"Let's go home." Matt finally spoke up.

"Yeah." T.K. nodded somberly.

As the group walked away, two shooting stars passed through the sky.

Unknown to the eight guardians and the children being threatened by Myotismon would soon know the truth.

**_To be continued…_**


	23. Bonds of destiny, Gatomon

It was the early evening by the time Tai returned home with Agumon. The phone rang and the boy answered it to receive the news from Joe: No one else besides all eight children have moved from Hikarigaoka.

What none of them knew was that Gatomon was observing Kari via a small telescope from the opposite building, after having seen the little girl interact with the nymph's daughter, she suspected little Kari to the eighth chosen child. A fact that left her restless. She'd been right there, ready to strike down the human child but was unable to do so.

"I don't understand why? Why couldn't I carry out the goal I'd intended?" She said to herself. Gatomon then noticed Miko hop onto Kari's lap. "A pet cat, hmph. They give it food and it naps all day. Sometimes it'll pay attention to the owners. But this is out of envy. I never had anyone who accepted me for who I was."

Deep in her mind's eye, she'd begun to remember back when she was in her previous form as a Salamon. A small blue-eyed, creamy-white puppy digimon wearing a gold collar around her neck – the same markings as the holy ring around Gatomon's tail.

"When I was in my Child-Level, Salamon, I was pushed around by Myotismon every day. It was always for the same reason."

_'I've already told you: I'll make you suffer the same pain every time you look at me with those eyes.'_ Gatomon remembered Myotismon's exact words.

"And regarding her...the nymph's daughter...Kylie… She was a strange one from the beginning."

* * *

_"Stop it!" Kylie ran between Myotismon, who almost lashed her with his crimson lightning. "What are you doing!? Hurting her, just because she looks at you, because you dislike her eyes? How can you be so cruel, or insane!?"_

_"She prevented Myotismon from harming me, something no one had done for me before...and I was...overwhelmed."_

* * *

Gatomon still remembered that instant. Myotismon had been both shocked and indignant. Perhaps that was when the heir had begun to suspect things, and lead the Nymph's daughter into escaping one night.

"She would've been much better off as far from Myotismon as possible, no matter how much he seems to cherish her." Gatomon murmured thoughtfully.

Gatomon pulled the glove off her palm, and stared at the faint marking, where a scar should have been before. That scar had been given to her from Myotismon's harsh strikes. But Kylie has used her powers to heal the scar when she saw it, so that Gatomon no longer had that painful reminder of her agony filled past.

"I suppose its good thing that Sorceress bound me to not reveal the eighth child's location," Gatomon murmured. "Otherwise, it'd reveal where Kylie was too..."

Again she remembered other memories involving the young fairy.

* * *

_"Oh what a lovely cat!" Kylie remarked. Without warning, she went and scooped up Gatomon into her arms._

_Gatomon was utterly flummoxed, and her first impulse was to hiss, and claw the strange creature's throat out. When a thump, like a heartbeat echoed through the room, and Gatomon relaxed._

_'It's so warm...what is this?' Gatomon wondered._

_~A mother's love in physical form, and you feel it. ~_

_An unseen voice spoke in her mind, and Gatomon looked around, expecting to see Wizardmon. But it was only her, and Sirene's heir._

_"Love..." Gatomon said shocked._

* * *

What's more, unlike Myotismon, the young woman actually said Gatomon's eyes were beautiful. True, Sirene's child had been kind to her and perhaps Kylie's love affair with Myotismon is foredoomed to remain star-crossed, but Gatomon refused to admit, dare she say it? Vexed and a little abandoned when the heir escaped that one night.

Gatomon then began questioning. "Yet where was I born, anyway? What was I doing before I met Myotismon? I can't remember anything."

"Thinking about the past?"

"I've told you to stop interfering with my thoughts!" Gatomon said through gritted teeth, before turning to face the speaker.

Behind her was a digimon that had nearly spotted Kylie and the others yesterday as they were headed home.

"Sorry." Wizardmon bowed his head in shame. "That's not what I meant to do."

"Hurry and find the eighth child, Wizardmon!"

"Yes, I know."

One he left, Gatomon went back to observing Kari. She had no idea of what has transpired this evening involving Kylie nor of the trouble that would soon brew.

* * *

That same night, the Pantheon sisters' parents were out to dinner with friends while the servants that had already returned were running errands.

Kylie finished relaying to Beth and Dana what had happened in her bedroom, yet something had the animals on edge. At first the girls had thought they wanted company, but then there came a suspicious fluttering, scratching somewhere in the mansion.

"What's that?" asked Dana tensely.

"Just a mouse in the wall," Beth commented. "He must have come inside without the maids noticing."

"But it sounded like it came from… the far end of the West wing." Kylie whispered.

The scratching came again, from a different corner. Then again, not too far from the windows.

"Maybe it's a whole family," Dana guessed nervously.

Then came a rustling, as though something small and soft was being dragged across the floor. It gradually increased until the whole ceiling above us was alive with rustling and stirring and gently scratching sounds.

"I hope its Speck and his siblings having wandered into the mansion!" Beth said uneasily.

"What if it's rats?!" Kylie whimpered. "Or, absurd as it sounds Myo- I mean, someone has broken in!"

"With all the protective enchantments?" Beth questioned.

But they had to be responsible and find out what was going on in the West wing—and try to get rid of it, if possible. Yeah, right. Get rid of a million rats. What were they going to do—politely ask them to leave?

And what if it wasn't rats upstairs? But an intruder maybe some crazed no maj or warlock who had somehow entered the mansion? Then she took a deep breath. What was she thinking? Were they magical or not?

"It'll only take a minute," Beth said. "Just got to find out what it is."

This must be one of the things parents really hate about being a grown up. Whenever someone hears a spooky noise, they're the ones who have to check it out—even though they probably feel like hiding, too.

The whole manor seemed to be listening as Beth started to inch towards the west wing. Listening as she was about to take another step. Something then rolled in front of her, it was one of the scented candles from the guest room in the west wing.

She then heard a familiar chitter and Beth calmed. "Ugh, seriously Speck? You and the smaller animals just about gave me a heart attack—huh?"

Behind her, Beth just saw all five compies hurrying away from another room. "Speck?"

If the compy pack was in the opposite room and scurrying down the hall already… then what was in the guest room?

She quietly pulled open the door then fumbled for the light switch and flicked it on. Listening for the scream that tore out of her throat as she saw the hundreds—no, thousands—of black bats that had been waiting.

* * *

_It was on the night before they departed for Earth, Lady Despair had called Wizardmon into her sinister laboratory among the potions to inform him of his task. "My child is...deluded by the allure of the girl, dark beings often find themselves drawn to the light."_

_"My Lady, I hate to argue with you, but she is very powerful. How will I be able to destroy her?" Wizardmon asked. "And what if Lord Myotismon..."_

_"He won't find out, I give my word," Lady Despair reassures. "And I have just the thing to aid you."_

_She fetched a dagger, and dips it in a gray, make up texture like cream. Lady Despair holds it up, and opens a box with a rat in it. She touches the rat with the tip of the dagger, and it turns to stone._

_"You are very cunning, Wizardmon." Lady Despair praises. "You are right up there with Gatomon. Surely you can use your spells to get close enough just to SCRATCH that little tramp. So we're free of her presence, and my child can clear his mind to do what is needed to be done."_

* * *

"You know the truth, you've felt the ley lines, the path of magic to Carolinus, you feel the flow of magic and it affects you," The Dark Spectre Queen said to Wizardmon. "You feel the call of Eternity, and know what you must do to keep the balance of light and darkness."

The small magician had started when he heard her voice but could not see the owner. He was flying over Ariake Forest when the false Crest began to glow. "It's glowing! But why here?"

Up head was a crow on a nest of clothes hangers and some scraps of cloth but it was what was in the nest that caught Wizardmon's eye.

"It's the Digivice!" He cast out an orb of energy which scared off the crow.

Wizardmon landed and retrieved the object only for an annoyingly familiar voice approach.

"Hey, Wizardmon! What are you doing over there?"

Quickly Wizardmon hid the digivice in his pockets as Demidevimon got closer. "Oh, nothing."

"I don't think doing nothing would've led you here. You found something, didn't you?"

"Well, alright you caught me."

"What?"

"This world is more fun than I thought it would be." Wizardmon pulled out a bottle of wine and pretended to slur. "I ended up getting drunk."

"Not you, too." The bat scoffed. "If you keep that up, you'll be wiped out just like Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon!"

"Please don't tell Lord Myotismon or her Ladyship about this. Okay?" He handed him the bottle.

"Yeah, yeah. Geez, all of Gatomon's troops are useless dolts!" DemiDevimon flew away with the bottle in one of his claws.

"I can't hand this Digivice over to Myotismon. But if the Digivice is here… where is the eighth child?" He then looked at the extra item he'd been given: the dagger Lady Despair had ordered him to use on Kylie.

As he flew back to the apartment complex, he looked around contemplatively then back at the dagger. No, he had no quarrels with the late Sirene nor her daughter. Gatomon held no such resentment towards Kylie either.

So with a determined scowl, he flung the dagger into the bay with all his might. As the dagger sunk into the water, a glowing, purple bubble encased it, as a scaly hand balanced it on one fingertip to examine the dagger with a shining, violet eye.

"My, my, there might be hope for Gatomon as well," Vanessa said to herself, before she vanished with the taken dagger.

* * *

In a fiendish cloud the bats hurled themselves at Beth. She closed her eyes and doubled up, but there was no avoiding them. She could feel their leathery texture and spiked wings brush against her arms even as she managed to form a tiny orb of energy. They were crawling all over her, their toes scrabbling for a foothold and their teeth searching for a tender spot to bite...

"Beth! What's going on over there?" Dana went over to see what all the commotion was.

With a whoosh the bats swirled up into the air and flew down the stairs toward her. She screamed and flung herself face down on the ground. But the bats didn't want her.

They flew back upstairs, whirled around a shocked Kylie for an instant—and then disappeared through the open window at the end of the hall. Beth ran up the stairs to watch them, she was soon joined by Dana.

Beth drew a long, shaky breath. "I—I guess that's what was making the noise in the west wing guestroom."

"What did they want?" Dana asked.

Kylie gulped. "I think the proper question would be who were they after?"

There came the sound of the telephone ringing, the maid answered then called up to Beth, "Miss Beth, it's your friend Zaira!"

Beth answered it and the thunder guardian informed them of her most recent premonition…

* * *

Back in the Kamiya apartment, Kari and Agumon were eating watermelon while watching the news with Tai.

"Tokyo is flooded with eye-witness reports on these mysterious, large animals and mysterious humanoids with the most recent spotting in Shibuya Center. Also in the same area, several young women with acute anemia have been found collapsed, the police have begun an investigation..."

Tai turned off the T.V., looking unnerved. "They lost a lot of blood?"

It could only be Myotismon, he also remembered the romantic entanglement Kylie had explained. Would the guardian be sharing a similar fate or be turned much like other vampire's victims in the old legends if she hadn't escaped?

The phone rang at the moment, breaking him out of those thoughts, it was Matt.

"Did you see the TV?"

"I didn't have the time, I was there in Shibuya with Kylie and two of the guardians!" Matt replied.

"Then… it was you they mentioned on TV!" Tai said as he and Agumon walked into his room closing the door so his parents wouldn't overhear.

"Myotismon attacked us, he wanted Kylie to come with him but she refused." Matt was explaining. "That villain even killed his own subordinates!"

"What'd you say?!" Tai was shocked.

"Tai, I swear this guy's capable of anything! And if his creator Lady Despair, is anything like him, we can't tell what she'll do! We need to find the eighth child quick!"

"If Myotismon finds her first we're all dead!" Tai responded.

He had no idea that the guardians were flying fast towards his apartment or of the shocking revelation that was about to unfold.

* * *

At the same time, Wizardmon brought the digivice to Gatomon and begun voicing his own theory to her.

"I think the eighth child… Could be somewhere deep inside your thoughts."

Gatomon was taken aback, as though something clicked. "Inside my thoughts?"

"Your heart is put under tight locks and kept prisoner. What happened is that your mind was sealed, the key to finding the eighth child is hidden deep within. Are you scared of retrieving the memories of your younger self? Why aren't you trying to remember? Take back the memories you've lost! Remember your past without fear!"

Gatomon narrowed her eyes and put up her claws defensively. "Did Myotismon or that two-faced sorceress send you here?!"

"I am a digimon that will always fight alongside you." Wizardmon didn't even flinch. "They have nothing to do with this."

Gatomon lowered her paws and listened to Wizardmon speak.

"Before I met you, I was always alone… I traveled alone, unable to make any friends."

He reminisced of his long travels. Whoever owned or read from the forbidden Book was punished in his world. Although he knew this, he couldn't hold back the urge to learn of its secret knowledge. As a result, he was exiled. The composition of his body was changed so that he now looked like a life-sized rag doll. He should have died then. But then a small shadow approached him and called out to him.

* * *

_Anyone who didn't know her would find it hard to believe that this small creature, who only reached up to his waist, could destroy opponents ten times her size. Wizardmon still recalled the conversation they shared the evening when they first met._

_"I'm grateful for your help, but I have nothing to give you in return." Wizardmon had said to Gatomon._

_"I see. You've lived a long time being alone."_

_"What?"_

_"When you live too long in solitude, your heart becomes cold. It could happen to everyone. Even me."_

* * *

"That's what happened?" Gatomon questioned.

"I was about to die with a heart of stone due to my loneliness. The one who freed me from that loneliness, Gatomon… Was you. Yes… I remember that this is what you told me back then…"

* * *

_"I've always been waiting; waiting and searching, but I never find her!"_

_"Waiting? Searching? For who?"_

_"I have no idea. I don't remember anymore. But I was waiting for someone."_

* * *

"I was waiting for someone?"

"Yes, that's what you said. From the way you worded it, I know you were not referring to neither Sirene nor her child."

"I don't understand, who was it I was waiting for?" Gatomon wondered.

There was only one other way to find out. Kari had just put Miko back inside, when she turned around she saw Wizardmon floating an inches from the balcony railing. Then a familiar white cat front flipped towards her.

Kari was delighted. "You're the one I saw around midday! You came back! You really are one of Agumon's friends, right?"

Gatomon didn't answer. Wizardmon landed onto the balcony next to her then set the digivice into Gatomon's right paw.

"What's this? Why do you…?" Kari reached out towards the digivice, which began to shine a bright light.

"She's the eighth child we've been searching for?" Gatomon questioned.

"Yes that's right." Wizardmon replied.

Gatomon turned to him. "Then where is her digimon?"

"That's something you must discover for yourself, remember who were you waiting for?"

Whatever effects his words contained, they began to bring back bit by bit Gatomon's forgotten memories. "Yes, when I was a Nyaromon I was always waiting for someone. It was a very long wait day after day. The time went by and I kept waiting, but no one ever came.

* * *

_In her memories, a tiny, adorable digimon, with permanent pink blushing cheeks appears now in the flashback, a holy ring around her neck like a collar and eyes a beautiful blue. She wanders across a desert, the sun beating down on her._

_"I learned to survive on my own and digivolved little by little. If I didn't, I would've died. Even though I knew that, in truth, I was supposed to digivolve with someone else by my side. When I became a Salamon, I stopped waiting and went out in search on my own. That's how I began my journey, suddenly, someone appeared in my path… but it was not who I was waiting for."_

_But when the Salamon walked into a forest, she's startled by the sound of rumbling, and dozens of Garthim appear. They surround the scared Digimon, but she's surprised, when a beautiful woman, with pink, glowing, cat eyes and shimmering golden hair appears._

_"But the one who appeared in my path...I mistook her for the one I was waiting for."_

_Lady Despair smiles warmly at the small critter, and beckons her to come closer, and she picks up Salamon when she approaches. Sierra cradles the little digimon close, and turns to leave the forest with the garthim following._

_"And for a while, I was so happy, so many days she cared for me," Gatomon said with a mix of joy and sadness. "But she had to leave for the Human world, and couldn't take me with her, so she left me in the charge of her 'child.'"_

_In the memory Myotismon loomed over her ominously._

* * *

"It was Myotismon. The days of despair and suffering began until I had forgotten my memories… I forgot that I was waiting for someone… Searching for someone…"

While Gatomon reminisced, Agumon noticed there was someone out there with Kari and alerted Tai.

"Who's there?" Tai yelled out

"Onii-chan!"

"What are you doing to Kari?" Tai demanded.

"Wait. Listen to us first!" Wizardmon tried explaining.

"Kari get come with me, those digimon are our enemies!" Tai urged his sister.

Kari stepped forward. "No, you're wrong! Gatomon was looking for me…"

Agumon launched a fireball at their direction, Kari held her arms our protectively but

"Look out!" Gatomon shoved Kari out of the way and got hit by the fireball.

"Gatomon!" Kari cried out in distress for her.

Fortunately the cat digimon was unharmed.

"Gatomon protected Kari..." Tai was stunned. He didn't know what else to say.

"Now do you remember the memories that you've locked away?" Wizardmon asked.

Gatomon understood the meaning of this girl's gentle look into her eyes. "Yes. Kari is my… dearest partner. The one I had been waiting for all this time was Kari."

"Waiting… for me?"

"I was looking for you everywhere. Kari!" She ran up and hugged the little girl who held her back.

Kari smiled at her brother happily, "This is Gatomon, my Digimon. She's my partner. Just like you and Koromon."

"Then Kari really is the eighth child…"

"And I'm her Digimon partner." Gatomon walked forward. "I swear I'll protect her at any cost!"

"Even if what you say is true, who is this guy?" Tai pointed at the wizard Digimon.

"Wizardmon is my friend." She told them. "Besides, he's also the one who found the lost Digivice."

"You think I'm just going to believe that?" Tai demanded.

"I don't care if you believe it or not. I only follow after Gatomon." Wizardmon answered coolly before handing the digivice to Tai.

Then it hit Tai at that same moment about Vanessa's cryptic words. The eighth child was a girl and under their noses the whole time…

"Urgh, she knew all along! Of all the rotten tricks!" Tai fumed. The information would've been useful hours ago!

Kari stared puzzledly at Tai's reaction. Wizardmon and Gatomon merely waited for him to calm down. "Getting back to the matter at hand, Kari needs her Crest and by that I mean the original."

"The original?"

Gatomon held out one of the false crests for Tai to see. "This is a copy we used to find Kari's Digivice. Myotismon has the original crest." Her eyes grew sharp. "We must take it back. We must take back Kari's Crest."

"You guys will wait here." Wizardmon instructed as he and Gatomon walked to the balcony railing.

"Wait! Where is Myotismon? I want to come to!"

"It's too risky. We'll handle this ourselves."

Gatomon and Wizardmon slipped quietly through the night's darkness. Unluckily for them, DemiDevimon caught sight of the two leaving Odaiba. He had been following Matt at Shibuya under Myotismon's orders, and had just arrived.

* * *

Myotismon's coffin lay in the underground lair. It was protected by a magic barrier that made no maj humans unconsciously avoid moving closer to that area. Even looking in that direction, all that could be seen was dim darkness.

Fortunately for them, Lady Despair was back in her other hideout. She'd claimed she was brewing a little 'surprise' for the other guardians very soon.

"Where's the crest? Wizardmon, we must hurry!" Gatomon said in worry as the coffin belonging to Myotismon laid out before them.

"No need to rush. There's still time left before dawn." Wizardmon said pointing his staff at the coffin.

And sensing something, he and Gatomon hurry to open the unoccupied coffin, and reaching under the silk pillow to pull out a crest.

"Here it is!"

"We did it, it's the original Crest!"

However their good mood came to end. The presence of chittering bats announced Myotismon had returned. Swiftly they closed the coffin even knowing that they were caught in the act.

"What are you doing in here?" Myotismon demanded a little too calmly.

"Nothing!" Wizardmon tried to lie.

Myotismon gave a blank, cold stare, which he turned to Gatomon and Wizardmon, and holding up a crest of light and tag in between his fingers. "It seems you're searching for this?"

Uncertainly, Gatomon and Wizardmon looked at the one they had before looking back at the vampire. Their reactions were all the confirmation he needed.

"What do you from stealing the original Crest? So you were planning to betray me?" Myotismon snarled before crushing the false crest in his fist.

Wizardmon leapt towards the vampire but he floated aside, causing Wizardmon to fall to the floor. Gatomon hurries to his side.

"Wizardmon!"

"I'm alright."

Gatomon turned to glare darkly at Myotismon.

"It's those eyes again. I've always suspected you would turn against me and that is why I had to teach you by punishing you. Do you think a small thing like you could do something against me? After such betrayal, I won't forgive your lives!"

"I haven't betrayed you. I was always on Gatomon's side from the very start!" Wizardmon stood in front of Gatomon protectively.

"Fools. Grisly Wing!"

Both Gatomon and Wizardmon tried to fight off the swarm of bats, but there were too many and they were carried back outside into the park. The bats then drop them from high up in the air, where they fall to the ground, and Gatomon lands on her feet. But Wizardmon crashed into the dirt, at the feet of Myotismon.

Wizardmon raised his staff into the air and chanted a spell. Dark clouds appeared above his head at once.

* * *

The fight in Daiba Park could be viewed from the Kamiya family's apartment.

"What's that?" Kari suddenly pointed.

At that moment, what appeared to be several multicolored comets were flying directly towards them.

Tai had yelped briefly before squinting and staring. The glowing from the 'comets' faded to reveal seven of the guardians in fairy form, looking like they'd literally run a mile.

"Are we glad to see you!" Tai waved them down.

Beth and the girls looked almost out of breath as though they'd flown all the way from their respective homes to the apartment.

"Where's Kylie?" Kari asked, looking at them one by one.

"We had to lock her in her own bedroom so she wouldn't go straight into Despair or Myotismon's clutches!" Dana explained.

"Gatomon and the others are fighting!" Agumon informed them.

Zaira nods frantically. "I know! I saw a premonition: about Kari being the eighth child and Myotismon returning to catch both Wizardmon and Gatomon just as they recovered the crest!"

The Storm now rumbled forebodingly.

"Agumon, we're joining them!" Tai told his Digimon then glanced up at the guardians, "Let's get over there!"

"Right!"

"Wait, I want to come too!" Kari pleaded.

Haruna responded before Tai could. "No, wait here in case they return."

A worried Kari could only watch the storm, feeling greatly worried for Gatomon's safety.

* * *

Back in Daiba Park, lightning fell down towards Myotismon. It would have been a direct hit except the vampire deflected it with his cape.

"You know the consequences of angering me!" he jeered.

Gatomon leapt right at the vampire, only to be easily backhanded away.

"Thunder Cloud!" Wizardmon launched another attack.

Myotismon held out his hands in open palms, the lightning reflected back towards the small wizard knocking him back.

"Crimson lightning!" His blood-red whip tangled around Wizardmon. "I'll finish you off first, Wizardmon!"

"Stop!" Gatomon had gotten up. "If you want to fight, do it with me!"

"Those eyes again. They're not merely reflecting your hostility. Those are the eyes that never lose hope, no matter the circumstances. Eyes that believe in tomorrow. Coming from you, they are what I hate the most," Myotismon said, his lips curled into a smile. But from Kylie…

The night Kylie escaped his castle, he'd flown into a passion of anger and confusion. Once he calmed down hours later, he sulked alone and in the days that followed, the vampire barely slept or ate when she was gone.

As they fought the shadows suddenly shifted, and revealed Lady Despair, in a loose, billowing black dress with a gold chain belt around her waist.

"Did you seriously think I wouldn't have put an enchantment, so to be sure if anyone other than me and him opened the coffin, we'd know..."

"Ack! I was careless!" Wizardmon said in alarm.

"I do regret this, despite what you might think, Gatomon." Lady Despair sighed, looking down to the cat digimon. "I never should've left you in my son's care, he was not meant to care and groom you into a servant of the darkness. But the fact of the matter is your eyes are too much like hers, and he treated them like a sword aimed in his direction."

Myotismon and Gatomon looked at Sierra in confusion. What was she talking about?

"Oh, don't look so surprised." Lady Despair laughed, stopping next to Myotismon. "I took in Gatomon because I knew who she was...the future partner of the eighth child..." She turns to grin at Gatomon in a knowing manner. "And like you, she was a child of a higher being, the daughter of the Nymph Sirene!"

Gatomon gasped in shock, as Myotismon sputtered incredulously, while Wizardmon looks at Gatomon in disbelief, and prompt recognition.

"Your eyes...so like the Nymph that defied the Queen of Darkness until her death." Wizardmon gasped.

"That's right, Gatomon. You have no genuine digital core," Lady Despair said in 'I know something you don't know' manner. "Sirene created you, the same way as I did my precious children. You began as a drop of blood and essence, with that ring floating in the center."

She points at Gatomon's holy ring, which she looks at, her tail flexing in alarm.

"That ring belonged to the Nymph, and it's all that's left of her physically, aside from her accursed daughter."

"Then that gives me all the more reason to defeat you both!" Gatomon declared sternly. "And I'll make doubly sure to protect Kylie from you both as well!"

Again Gatomon pounced and she was swatted away but this time she was on her feet.

Myotismon scowled. "I see, that changes everything! First I'll destroy your beloved friend, he'll soon be meeting Hades! Grisly Wing!"

All the bats swarmed Wizardmon before he was picked up by them and they flew away picking him right off until they were several feet from the ground.

"A pity, Wizardmon..." Lady Despair sneered into the small wizard's ear. "If you'd just killed Kylie with the magic dagger I gave you, I would've sent you and Gatomon far away to a lovely planet where you two would've lived together happily."

"Then you obviously don't know me very well!" he responded.

"Finish him!" Lady Despair snapped.

"Wizardmon!" cried Gatomon.

"Gatomon – Aaah!" The bats had dropped him into the bay. With his ragdoll body all wet, he would surely drown.

"Wizardmon!" Gatomon cried tearfully.

"Gatomon…!" Wizardmon sank into the waters, in his fist he held the crest tightly.

"Wizardmon…" Gatomon whimpered. She was utterly devastated by the sudden turn of events.

The quiet sounds of the waves were interrupted by heavy footsteps. Through the fog, seven bright lights fast approached.

"We come to help!" Tai was riding on Greymon's shoulder.

"Don't forget us!" Beth cried.

She and the girls took defensive stances before Myotismon and Lady Despair.

"It's an honor to see you appear before me voluntarily." Myotismon addressed the guardians. "A pity, I expected to see her before me demanding answers to the questions she has."

"Well, Kylie won't be seeing you again tonight!" Theo snapped.

Beth said to Myotismon, "I'm not gonna mince words here, I don't believe you're the one for Kylie and frankly, you're NOT my idea of a brother in law. All I can say to you personally, is that she's alright if that's what you truly want to know."

Uh-oh, tactical error. Myotismon turned a steely gaze right to the Keeper of the Heart.

"I mean, she's always okay." Beth ended up squeaking.

Greymon launched a Megaflame at Myotismon and Lady Despair. They deflected it while Myotismon strikes Greymon with his crimson lightning.

The girls countered with their own elemental attacks before MetalGreymon steps to the plate.

"Enough!" Lady Despair shouts. She raises her hands, and immediately, black lightning shoots from the sky, and strikes all but Despair and Myotismon, trapping them in spheres.

"We have no time for this nonsense!" Lady Despair growled at Myotismon. "We've wasted enough time, we have what we need."

Lady Despair waves her hand at Gatomon, who's encased in a pink sphere of light.

"Ahh! Let me out!" Gatomon yells.

"No, my pretty kitty." Lady Despair shushes her with a finger pressed to her black lips. "Now that we have you and the crest, there's no more point pussy footing around."

The wicked woman's eyes glowed red, and she peered into her eyes. But as she did Gatomon gasped in alarm, feeling the Sorceress pouring through her mind. And then...

"AHHHHHHH!" Lady Despair screamed as a purple butterfly appeared over Gatomon, and blasted the Sorceress with lightning.

The Demonic Dame's whole body lit up, her skeleton showing in her body, before she was flung backwards into Myotismon.

"Mother! What's happened!?" Myotismon asked in shock.

"Ah! Ah! Ooooh!" Lady Despair groaned, rubbing her head. "Oh, fool that I am! I should've guessed!"

Lady Despair glared at the purple glowing butterfly and Gatomon as it vanished.

"She's under a powerful enchantment, I can't use my powers to find out the child's identity from her mind," Lady Despair proclaimed. "And she can't reveal it to us, even if she wanted to...The Dark Spectre Queen's spells are potent, I fear we can't discover the 8th child identity through her..."

"Then she's worthless, My Lady!" Demidevimon stated, having just arrived. "Why not destroy her now, and get rid of a nuisance!"

"Fool Boy! Just because she can't reveal it, doesn't mean she can't still be used to find the brat!" Lady Despair strolls over to Gatomon, and pokes her on the nose with one of her sharp, black, curved nails.

"The 8th child and she are connected, as long as we have the feline, the eighth child will come to us." Lady Despair laughed. "We just need to capture all the children in this city, and the child will reveal themselves in time."

"That's low!" Tai yelled.

Myotismon warned Beth. "To you, I leave a message to Kylie: She is to join me or I shall further take matters into my own hands."

"This isn't over yet," Lady Despair addressed Tai. "Once we get our hands on the eighth child, you, your little friends and those fairies will be next!"

"Be certain that we'll see you again." Myotismon sneered before he and Lady Despair began to fly away.

"Wait! Gatomon!" Tai yelled

"Tai!" She screamed.

"We'll find you and get you back we swear it!" Beth called out.

Myotismon and Lady Despair's ominous laughter rang throughout the mist as they vanished into it with their captive.

* * *

Back in the Kamiya apartment, little Kari had an unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach. They all should've been back by now. "Gatomon has to come back…" she said softly before looking back out at Daiba Park. "Won't she? GATOMON!"

Her cry echoed in the night.

**_To be continued…_**


	24. The flowery fairy of Odaiba, Lilymon

When you're a teenager, a huge problem would be something dumb like: when you just have to have a brand new coat, because everybody else says is cool, but your parents say it's too expensive. Or getting this gigantic zit and desperately needing to see a dermatologist right away when the adults claim no one will notice. And you'd think the whole world has gone nuts—until that fateful early morning.

The guardians had returned with Tai to give Kari the grim news before they departed for their own hopes and promising a rescue mission the following day. Kylie was beside herself with worry but she and her fellow guardians were left with no other choice but to wait for morning and some words of wisdom from Vanessa.

The Digimon who had appeared in Tokyo had not only attacked aimlessly, but several had even managed to skillfully hide themselves. It had taken time just trying to find them. Because they had been battling throughout Tokyo, they didn't realize that Lady had Myotismon target Odaiba.

The order that DemiDevimon received from Myotismon was: "Gather all of my Digimon subordinates to Odaiba before daybreak."

* * *

Mimi Tachikawa's father, Keisuke, headed back to Odaiba from his studio in Shiba. He worked mainly as a freelance audio mixer for rock music, so his workplace was in an underground recording studio. However, he had been unable to get any work done since the early afternoon today. Regardless of whatever sound generator he reproduced, he would always catch static mixed into it somewhere. After looking through his various audio sources, he decided that all of his equipment would need to be checked over. The day ended with him having to put his work on hold as he waited for a serviceman to arrive and do maintenance. Because he always walked from the studio to Shinbashi to ride the Yurikamome, he was unaware of the traffic congestion that was taking place in various parts of the city.

As he absentmindedly gazed out the window, the scenery began to cloud over faintly. "Fog? That's weird."

The Yurikamome that he was riding on arrived at Odaiba without any predicament. Thirty minutes later, it suspended all services.

Around 11:00 pm that evening, the fog surrounding Odaiba increased in density. It writhed like a living being. As it encircled the whole area of Odaiba, a low laugh could be heard coming from somewhere within. A human shadow stood on the rustic triumphal arch rooftop of the Telecom Center building. His dark cape with crimson lining fluttered behind him. It was Myotismon.

Both the Yurikamome and the Rinkai Fukutoshin Line stopped functioning. Even all of the automobiles crossing Rainbow Bridge died because their electrical systems failed. No phone calls would go through. This not only applied to phones, but wireless connections as well. The television radio waves that were being sent from Odaiba were also shut down, their channels showing up in households all across the nation as nothing but static.

From outside its surrounding areas, Odaiba looked as though it were covered in a giant dome of fog. But the residents who were inside didn't realize right away that something was wrong. The fog was thick only at its outline, while the inside of it was sparse. No changes were noticed in the electricity and water supply. The only people inside who noticed something was odd were those making phone calls or watching TV. All TV and radio stations inside the dome had poor reception.

* * *

At the beginning, the fog dome could still be cut through. People who had stopped their cars on the highway, leading to the Rainbow Bridge and Shinkiba, had left them to walk across, so they were able to slip through the fog and out of its dome. They had no idea that they were the lucky ones.  
Not even ten minutes passed when the fog intensified until it was almost solid.

"No one will escape, not even the eighth child!" It was Myotismon. His cape spread out like wings.

Nearby, Lady Despair watched proudly. "Go now, my servants of darkness. Soon, this world will be ours, and all will worship my children as Divine!" Lady Despair beamed.

The fog only begun affecting No maj electronics but also other means that would require those with magic from leaving or entering Odaiba, no doubt Despair didn't want the Ministries attempting a rescue.

* * *

In a magical dimension a ways away, a flaming haired, creature of magic attempted to create a portal with a pair of scissors to visit a certain sea witch. Only to find the portal didn't work at all.

"What the Fudge!?" She stared at the scissors she made in alarmed shock.

* * *

Carolinus the green wizard was attempting to communicate via the plants to the guardians, as he wished to ask their aid in an endeavor he had...only to be stunned, when all the flowers nearby dried up from expending themselves.

"What could be causing this?" Carolinus wondered in worry.

* * *

Vanessa smacks on her crystal ball, which does nothing but show static. "Something is interfering with the reception," Vanessa frowned in agitation. "I have a sneaky suspicion it's that despicable despair."

* * *

Kylie was totally unaware of what was happening outside, and equally helplessly, ignorant of the trouble the guardians' closest friends were going through. But whenever she closed her eyes, her active imagination showed her scenes of lurid horror. There was a good chance that her lover might be sharing the grisly fate of hunted vampires—decapitation and the stake.

Hers was an uneasy slumber, troubled by strange dreams. And the strangest dream of all was that Myotismon, Kylie's lover, the digimon whose destiny seemed to have been entangled with hers for all eternity— himself had somehow come to be with her now, in this very room.

"Kylie..."

The beautiful blonde turned her head the other way. The voice that was haunting her memories, her heart and soul.

"Kylie, come to me...My arms are hungry for you."

"Please leave me alone..." the girl whispered pleadingly.

"You know you love me...Can you conceive of what I feel for you?"

The girl sighed wearily as she answered to the voice, "I know... I can't stop thinking about you..."

"Then why won't you come back to me? I miss you so..."

"Y-you know perfectly well why... You and Despair are hurting everyone you come in contact with just to find me..."

"That's not the only reason you elude me, is it?" The voice chided with an amused undertone. "Now that you know the truth about yourself, you feel so different from the other guardians now... you fear that you don't belong here..."

"I already know that... the Digiworld is my home... where I was born…"

The voice purred, "But I love you... so much... Please... I will not harm anyone who comes here, but know if you try to leave here I WILL take action, and your friends might suffer. I know where you are. It is pointless to run anymore..." the voice now had a sinister edge, as if demanding the lovelorn fairy to come to him. "I love you, Kylie...come back to me."

* * *

Needless to say, it was the people within Fuji TV station who were the first to notice that something was wrong with the signals.  
No transceivers could be sent or received. All video equipment were non-functional. No matter what was put on display, all that could be seen were screens filled with static.

Hiroaki's intuition told him that, with the news of monsters going wild early that afternoon as well as the radio interference yesterday, this couldn't be just any regular abnormality. It was this intuition that had primed him into a skilled director.  
He also knew, from the wide view of the city at the top of Fuji TV station, that their surrounding areas were closed off by fog.  
He went straight into his next course of action without a moment's hesitation.

Near the Rainbow Bridge, Hiroaki Ishida and his crew from the TV station have already discovered the fog has covered all of Odaiba.

However they had not much time before a swarm of Gizamon attacked, his coworkers have been captured but Matt and T.K.'s father just barely escaped.

* * *

_August 3, 1999 6:02 am_

Government officials observed that the fog that covered Odaiba entirely, cutting that section off from the rest of the world. T.K. and his Mother were watching the grim news on TV while eating breakfast.

"And as you can see, there are no signs of what is going on in the fog dome. The safety of Odaiba's residents is unknown." The reporter was saying.

T.K. dropped his spoon in the cereal before standing up determinedly. "I have to go."

This mysterious fog could only be the work of Myotismon or that wicked witch they call Despair, he just knew it.

"T.K.!"

"I have to go! Onii-chan and Dad are in there!"

The lady who was T.K. and Matt's mother sat down and stared the TV for a moment, she was almost seeing her oldest son Matt and Hiroaki, her ex-husband.

"Let me go!" T.K. insisted.

"You're right. We'll go together."

* * *

"We apologize for the inconvenience. Due to an unknown incident, train service has been suspended." The station intercom broadcasted.

"This isn't good…" Tai's father, Susumu, sighed.

Just then there was the sound of people screaming, He whirled around to see people running from ghosts.

Appearing before those people who were trying unreasonably hard to resist, came a Digimon wrapped in a red robe that covered his entire body and wielding a wicked looking scythe. This was Phantomon, a Perfect-Level Digimon.

"What are those things?!" stammered Susumu in shock.

"Soul Chopper!" Phantomon's voice was a high pitched but with the sadistic tone.

The giant sickle that he carried could soundlessly cut through walls and steel-thick doors. No human kept up their will to fight after seeing that in action.

"By orders of Lord Myotismon! All of you will be taken in!"

* * *

Zaira and her family were several blocks away when the Bakemon had started attacking. As soon as she finished her breakfast, via premonition she saw the disaster unfold. Seeing the innocent people being rounded up and being shoved and herded away like cattle sent chills down her spine. She couldn't help imagining what the people on the streets and in the buildings were thinking and going through, not knowing what was going on.

However that didn't mean she was going to sit back and let these things happen. First she left a specific note to her father, stepmother and brother about where she was going before running out the door.

* * *

Mimi and her family had been resting in their apartment when the Bakemon had begun attacking. Mimi barely had time to hide Palmon under a yellow bedsheet before they all ran for the elevator.

"We're safe now." Mimi's father, Keisuke hoped.

"What were those horrible things?!" Mimi's mother, Satoe, questioned.

Mimi prepared herself. "Mama, let me explain…"

But the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening to reveal many more Bakemon waiting for them.

* * *

Sora Takenouchi's mother, Yoshiko, had been in the apartment with Piyomon when it happened.

Because of its long-standing tradition, her husband, who was an assistant university professor at the time they were wed, chose to take on her surname. It didn't mean that he was adopted into her family, but while her apprentices would frequently visit her home, her husband Haruhiko was not at home, or even in Tokyo, for long periods of time since his field research on folkloristics kept him away. It was possible that others saw her as a person who treated her apprentices highly, but her own husband frivolously. Even her only daughter, Sora, gave her a hard time when she secretly took on a rebellious attitude because of it.

But when Sora had returned home the day before yesterday, she was surprisingly obedient. In fact, she looked as if she had wanted to say something. Originally, since Sora was supposed to spend the night at summer camp, Yoshiko had arranged her own schedule so that she could work on tasks late into the night. It was already past 10 PM by the time she had gotten back home, so she'd rebuked Sora that they would talk tomorrow and to go to sleep immediately.  
And she didn't even make a single complaint. I wonder what that was about.  
In the end, when the following morning came, there wasn't any time to talk even though she was curious about what had happened at camp.

The last thing she expected was for some kind of ghosts to attack her while she was making her breakfast and the small pink bird Sora claimed was a stuffed animal to fly out. Piyomon's 'Magical Fire' drove them back. To say Toshiko, Sora's mother, was surprised would be an understatement.

Sora's mother was so shocked that she'd fallen backwards, pointing to Piyomon incredulously. "You're… You're not a stuffed toy?!"

An unuasually stern Piyomon turned to look at her. "Where does the soccer club have its morning practice?"

"In the elementary school's… schoolyard…"

"I have to hurry. Sora's in danger!"

At hearing Sora was in danger all the fear vanished from Sora's mother's face.

* * *

The captured people of Odaiba were gathered in Tokyo Big Sight, an enormous convention and exhibition center. Despite the rush of bodies from the earlier chase, none of the humans were hurt because the Digimon were given strict orders not to harm them in any way. Since they were going to end up as Myotismon's food, they needed to be treated delicately.

"Separate the adults and the children, and have all of the children meet Gatomon." Myotismon had ordered Demidevimon.

"It'd be easier to kill them all instead of doing something so complicated? It'll be much faster." Demidevimon questioned.

"That won't suit my aesthetics."

Myotismon continued to look down on the humans as he spoke to Gatomon, who was dangling from a rope by her paws.

"Looks like your partner isn't here."

Gatomon kept silent.

"I know they haven't escaped beyond the boundaries of my barrier."

Myotismon glared down at the crowd, and a look of alarm crossed over his face. "Phantomon!" Myotismon shouts.

The grim Reaper like ghost appeared slowly, like he'd turned invisible, but backwards.

"My Lord?" Phantomon asked.

"Where is My Creator?" Myotismon asked.

The Phantom digimon looked around in surprise, and appeared to be nervous now.

"I...I don't know, My Lord." Phantomon confessed.

"Well...FIND OUT!" Myotismon growled, his eyes glowing red as the phantom vanished.

"Seems to me the Mad Artist has her own plans," Gatomon said with a frown. "Do you suppose, she's currently found Kylie?"

Myotismon whirled around with his teeth barred in rage.

"YOU ARE INSOLENT!" Myotismon took a breath, and covered his eyes. "But you do have a point...I can't allow Mother to find her first..."

* * *

He was right to be concerned. Outside of Kibou Manor, a black portal opened, unleashing blood, red mist, which revealed Lady Despair, thousands of Bakemon and over 50 Garthim. Lady Despair was decked in a sparkly, green sequin dress, holding her staff.

"Well, so this is the homestead of that infernal, Sirene's heir." Lady Despair said, as she summoned her scepter into her hands in a flash of pink light.

"We shall go in immediately, My Lady." A Bakemon said.

Only to hit an invisible wall, and be shocked like a mosquito in a bug zapper.

"Haah..." Lady Despair sighed. "It's protected by a magical barrier, fools."

Sierra turned her scepter, so the skull was facing her, and she let loose a slow, evil smile.

"But we won't let a little thing like THAT upset us, will we?"

Lady Despair laughed maniacally as the scepter's black, crystal skull's eyes glowed bright red, spinning it over her head before slams it hard on the barrier. A massive pulse went through the barrier, and red cracks appeared over it, before it shattered to pieces.

"There, easy as pie." Lady Despair said leaning against her scepter.

A Bakemon floated over to touch the spot where the cracks formed, only to be shocked like the other Bakemon.

"What?" Lady Despair exclaimed, and walked over to rub her hand at the spot.

A purple flame appeared on her hand, and she winced, before waving it off. "So, the ol' Sea Hag added a couple layers to the original barrier, huh? I have to respect that...just as I have to destroy her marvelous work," Lady Despair declared to the Bakemon. "JUMP BACK!"

The Bakemon floated further back with the Garthim, and Lady Despair's scepter began to float in front of herself. It swayed side to side, like a metronome, as she waved her hands and chanted.

**_~Oh HIM, I call. Oh HIM, I beseech. Aid me in my task, help me to breach~_**

**_~Crack the shell, skin off the husk, annihilate this barrier~_**

**_~AS SO IT MUST!~_**

Immediately, around her a circle of strange, demonic runes appeared, glowing bright red and Lady Despair's eyes glowed blood red, her voice deep, warped and distorted and her talons grew longer. And Sierra hissed out, as she opened her mouth and a blast of fiery red energy shot out, shaped like a serpent. It struck hard against the purple barrier, which rippled like water, but appeared to hold fast.

"Come on, you lugs!" A Bakemon said to the Garthim. "Help out your mistress, weaken the barrier!"

The Garthim responded, and immediately, letting out that noise they do, they lumbered forward and slammed their claws against the barrier. At first, the barrier held up.

But the Garthim were impervious to most forms of magic, and with Lady Despair weakening the barrier, it soon began to melt like hot butter on a frying pan.

Lady Despair coughed, bent over a bit. A Bakemon came over, and rubbed her back, she waved him off.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, just too much dark magic," Lady Despair said clearing her throat. "But this manor is bound to have a ton of light magic artifacts to drain, and if not. I know it stores some tantalizing fairies for scarfing!"

Lady Despair grabs her scepter, and spins around to face the garthim, pointing her Scepter in the direction of the Manor.

"GARTHIM! ATTACK! GO AND BRING ME SIRENE'S HEIR, AND ANY FAIRIES!"

* * *

Inside the manor, one of the doors slammed open and a voice rang into it. "Drake, where are the girls?!"

It was Beth and Dana's father, Captain Omri Pantheon. He walked hurriedly into the living space without stopping to take his shoes off.

The butler answered. "I believe they're still upstairs sir..."

"You and the other servants, I want you to open the pens and get ready to run. We need to get out of here—"

But his quick actions were almost in vain. White blankets floated into their home through the open front door. They looked like the depictions of Western ghosts, as if they were people with white blankets over their heads, but they were Digimon named Bakemon.

The moment they entered the mansion, Mrs. Stanford, the motherly Russian cook, spotted them first.

"Aaargh! We're being invaded!" she hollered.

All over the servants were rushing about grabbing objects as weapons to protect themselves, while Dr. Pantheon told them to cease and escape with them.

"Girls, girls!" Omri rushed upstairs, and immediately came upon Beth and Dana. "Girls, we need to flee the manor, where's Kylie!?"

A loud crash startled them, as huge, black mollusk like armored crab beings marched into the front hall, eyes glowing a deep, dark pink color.

"The Garthim!" Beth shouts in alarm. Dana moves to cast a spell.

"No! They're immune to basic forms of magic, remember?" Beth reminded her. "Let's grab Kylie and get out of here!"

Dana was still in her pajamas, Beth and Kylie were the only ones dressed but that didn't stop them from running.

"The backward garden... to the guestroom!" Beth yelled at her sisters, "We're using the tree canopy!"

They raced to the one they know would be leading to the enormous gardens hiding some of the Pantheons 'larger' animal rescues besides the oak tree hideout. There was a very thick tree canopy full of roots they can use to jump down. Whatever beasts lingering in the foliage will no doubt let the girls pass by and scare off the intruders.

Once inside the guestroom, they pushed the dresser in front of the door to block it.

"That's not going to hold them!" Kylie worried.

"But it can buy us the time we need!" Beth replied. "Just got to get to the edge of the fence and look for the guys!"

A crash told them one of the garthim was breaking part of the door.

"You first!" Dana and Beth shoved Kylie towards the open window.

"Wait, n-not yeeeeeeeeeet!" Kylie cried as she tumbled down upon the canopy.

She gripped the branches even as she slid down to the grass.

"I made it!"

Beth turned to her little sister. "Dana, you're up!"

"We can't leave without the pets!"

"They're right out-"

CRASH!

The garthim had broken open a hole large enough for the Bakemon to pass through.

Beth and Dana shrieked as the Bakemon quickly flew towards them. Dana used her power of the wind on them and screamed at her sisters to run.

Dana grunted, banging her fists at the creepy hand of the Garthim, but to no avail. The garthim charged out of the manor, and rolled out the front door, where Lady Despair waited with her arms crossed.

"Ah, the adopted sister of the Nymph's daughter," Lady Despair said in a monotone. "I should thank you for keeping the child alive until I could get my hands on her..." She reaches out to grab Dana's chin as the garthim lowered her for Sierra to stare into Dana's green eyes.

The little girl glared and tried to bite the evil woman's hand defiantly. Despair pulled her hand away.

"But I think I just hate you too much," Lady Despair said with a curl of her lip.

* * *

Tai's family lived in a four-unit condominium that was partitioned by a road from the condominium of Sora and Izzy's families. Matt lived in yet another unit that was closer to Fuji TV station.

Except minutes earlier, Tai's mother was captured by the Bakemon.

Their surroundings were thronged with angry bellows and screams. An immense number of Bakemon had appeared, capturing the residents of the condominium. As Digimon went, the Bakemon had weak fighting strength, but they could still easily overpower regular humans. Whoever ran out into the hallways or jumped out from windows were snatched right up into the air and taken hostage.

A dazzling light broke out from a corner of the unit across from them. It was the light of evolution. "Agumon, digivolve to… Greymon!"

Agumon was somehow able to become Greymon in the narrow indoors, and as a result he burst through the walls.

"I-It's a dinosaur!"

Tai kept hidden behind Greymon, holding Kari tightly to him to protect her. "Greymon, rescue my mom!"

Greymon moved forward only to be attacked by Phantomon.

"That's what you get for rebelling." The ghoul snapped. "Now! Take them all to Lord Myotismon!"

Greymon was able to fend off the attacking Bakemon, but he did not have the leisure to save the people being taken away. The Bakemon's numbers were great, but if he made any clumsy attacks, he could end up injuring the humans in the Bakemon's grasp. Greymon couldn't use his fireball attack since it could hit Tai's mother. Using only his claws and horn to keep the Bakemon from grabbing Tai and his sister was the best he could do. "I'm sorry, Tai… I promise to save your mother later. But for now, you have to run away with me!"

Tai had to make a decision. He would save his parents later. Right now, he needed to protect Kari. "Let's get outta here!"

* * *

Large Digimon, such as the black dinosaur DarkTyranomon, were deployed around Big Sight so that no one could easily escape. Mimi was there with her parents. It was possible that she wasn't recognized as one of the Chosen Children because she wasn't wearing her pink ten-gallon hat.

Palmon was pretending to be a doll, wearing a large baby doll's apron and hat that had been hurriedly grabbed from Mimi's room and thrown onto her. Palmon had low offensive ability since she couldn't breathe fire, like Agumon and Gabumon, and hadn't had the chance to resist capture. Of course, she couldn't evolve to Togemon within the condominium either.

The wide convention center was packed tightly with people. Crying and murmuring could be heard all around them.

"Man, if I had the power, I'd beat those guys up!"

The young junior in Tai's soccer club that Mimi had seen running to them earlier that morning at the park was there, crying in frustration. The girl next to him gently comforting him must be his older sister.

_It must be nice to have a sibling,_ Mimi thought wistfully. Palmon was by her side now, but if Mimi didn't have her, there was no telling how much she would have bawled her eyes out.

At any rate, even if they evolved here now, they would simply be outnumbered.

"Mimi? Palmon?" A teenage girl's familiar voice questioned.

Mimi whirled around then sighed with relief. "Haruna?"

"They got you too?" Palmon asked.

"I just stepped out of my house when they captured my family." The earth guardian explained.

"I suppose we should count our blessings," Mimi said looking anxiously. "I don't see the Garthim, or that horrible Lady Despair. So, you could have the advantage here."

"Looks like it." Sara G and Theo walked right up with Tony.

"But if we're getting out, we need a diversion." Tony reminded.

Theo was looking around. "You see any of the others anywhere? My Ma and I were dragged in when the Bakemon things attacked our apartment."

Suddenly, a large scythe entered the path of Theo's sight, and Phantomon appeared, his glowing eyes narrowing at the girls.

"All the grown up humans are being separated from the younger," Phantomon said spookily. "Do as you are told, and no harm will befall you."

The girls tensed, but realized the creature didn't recognize them, since they hadn't encountered him beforehand.

"That's not exactly calming." Haruna remarked.

Phantomon laughed wickedly. "Of course, we DO want you in constant fear," Phantomon said as he floated away. "More fear to make my mistress magic stronger, so we can find who we are searching for..."

* * *

Outside in the meantime, Piyomon and Sora's mother had disguised themselves as Bakemon to look for Sora, they reached the schoolyard too late. All they found was an empty field full of soccer balls and Sora's hat.  
So Piyomon suggested that they follow the Bakemon in hopes of them leading the two right to Sora.

"Alright…" Sora's mother then knelt to the pink bird's eye level. "Um, Piyomon, this might sound like an odd question, but did Sora ever say that she hated me?"

"Not at all!" Piyomon shook her head. "In fact, she said this!"

And she proceeded to tell her Sora's heartfelt confession.

_"Before I knew what I was doing, I was doing the same as my mother."_

_"Sora…"_

_"That's when I understood… My mother loved me all along."_

"That girl…" Sora's mother was moved.

* * *

Wandering amongst the imprisoned humans the captive guardians searched around and found Sora sitting on a bench.

"Sora!"

The fifth grader spun around in surprise to see Mimi and three of the guardians smiling at her.

"They've caught you too?"

Palmon revealed herself briefly under the yellow bed-sheet Mimi had brought. "Mimi, should I evolve?"

"Not yet, Palmon. Let's wait until we have a chance."

"The enemy is all around us, so let's lay low for now." Sora replied.

"Okay."

Looking around for more familiar faces Sora and Theo found Tai and Kari's parents.

"Our children… Our children…!" Mrs. Yuuko Kamiya wept.

"Calm down." Her husband tried to calm her.

"I can't! I last saw them when we were being attacked by these monsters. That orange dinosaur must have eaten them by now…"

"He won't." Theo stepped up interrupting.

"How can you know that?"

"Oh right, I'm Theo, one of the junior counselors from Tai's camp." Theo held out her hand. "He was in my group and he's one of the bravest kids I've seen."

"Please don't worry." Sora had approached.

The Kamiyas looked up. "Sora."

"That dinosaur is on our side. I'm sure he will come here with other good Digimon and save us with the help of Theo's friends."

They formulated a plan of escape with Mimi's parents, captured of the Fuji TV station that worked with Matt's father and the recently captured parents of the Pantheon sisters.

The men would take down the guards, so while the Bakemon are distracted, the women and children would be led out to safety. Thanks to one of the TV crew possessing a boom box full of sutras, they had the means to weaken the Bakemon.

Within the next minutes, they put their plan into effect. The prisoners managed to get out of the building and to the path underneath one of the bridges, the one right by the giant red saw art sculpture.

"All right!" Mrs. Tachikawa cheered. "We've made it outside!"

Their victory was short lived as a giant black dinosaur stomped over.

"There's another one!"

"Where are you going?" Mrs. Tachikawa asked as her husband ran back into the crowd.

He took a small buggy and drove straight ahead at DarkTyranomon. "A man must do… What a man must do!"

But the dinosaur merely swatted the car away and sent Mimi's father flying. This scene caused many of the people to scream and panic.

"Papa!" Mimi shouted.

"Palmon, digivolve to... TOGEMON!"

"Our turn!" Three of the captured guardians intoned. Theo, Haruna and Sara G transformed.

"Leave it to us!" Haruna declared bravely.

Togemon gave a swift uppercut to DarkTyranomon, the other three fairies flew around the dinosaur's head like hummingbirds.

While Mimi and her mother ran over to where Mr. Tachikawa had crashed.

"Are you all right, dearest?"

"I am, but… I made a fool of myself."

"No, that's not true! You were very brave!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Hey…" Mimi interrupted her parents. "This isn't the time for that!"

"Once in a while doesn't hurt." Her father claimed.

"Yeah." Her mother agreed.

"But you always do this!" Mimi complained

DarkTyranomon roared, until giant vines burst out of the ground and entangled him in their snare.

"Go!" Haruna called out, flying above the others. "I have him!"

DarkTyranomon grumbled, and opened his mouth to breathe fire out on the plants.

"Ah! Look out!" Theo flew in front of the No Majs and holds up her hands. "Pele Fire Shield"

The fire was held back, and Sara flew over, and waved her arms around in a sorta dance.

"From the depths of the Ocean, Poseidon's Surge!" Sara chanted.

Out of the nearby river, a large water spout burst out, and washed away the fire, and shot into DarkTyranomon's mouth. The dark digimon gagged and gargled at having the water shoved into his mouth, and flailed until Sara stopped. And Togemon charged up, upper cutting DarkTyranomon in the jaw, sending him flying backwards.

"Keep going, Togemon! Girls, just keep at it!" Mimi cheers.

At that point, slammed Togemon to the ground and began to breathe fire on her.

"Togemon!" I shouted as I ran closer to her. "You can do it, Togemon!"

"I'm trying…" She said as she slowly got back up.

Immediately, the Bakemon on lookout came towards them. Mimi looked around for a moment, looking a little lost.

"Why?" She mumbled. "Why? Why are they doing this to us?"

"Mimi, get down! Rain blitz!"

Sara shoot a torrential blast of bluish-teal energy, causing more than ten Bakemon to disintegrate into particles in an instant. But there was an abundant numbers of Bakemon still present that kept coming in swarms. They were trying to herd the people back into the Big Sight.

"There's too many of them!" Haruna cried.

Tears welled up in Mimi's eyes but she did not break down. Instead she gained a determined expression. "So much cruelty! I'll never forgive those wicked Digimon! We'll fight them!"

When one of her fallen tears dropped, Mimi's crest suddenly glowed a bright green.

"Togemon, super digivolve to… Lilymon!"

A fairy Digimon that wears a pink flower for a dress, a bud of the same flower with a yellow stamen on her head, and long hair is made from thorny vines. She was wearing green boots with flower decorations and green sleeves that end in flowers at the wrists. On her back were four leaf-like wings that gave her the ability to fly.

She wasn't the only one who received a power upgrade.

The light of the digivice light shone on two of the guardians fighting alongside Theo, who grinned, knowing what would happen next. Flashes of Blue and green swept up on Sara and Haruna from toe to head, until they'd received a new set of clothes and wings.

DarkTyranomon backed up in surprise at the sudden transformations.

"Togemon digivolved?" Mimi questioned in wonder before turning her gaze to the guardians. "And now both Sara and Haruna reached Digix!"

The petite flower fairy Lilymon posed with both arms as she turned around. A large yellow flower formed in her hands in the shape of a cannon that fire a bolt of energy at DarkTyranomon's chest. "Flower Cannon!"

"Naiad's Attack!" A wavy beam of water and energy.

"Springtime's gust!" A breeze made of colorful flowers struck in a constricting flowery mist.

"Lilymon?"

The flower fairy turned to Mimi. "Mimi, do you think I look ugly?"

Mimi shook her head with a warm smile. "Not at all! You're very pretty!"

"Very much so!" Haruna confirmed.

Lilymon winked in her human partner's direction. "Thank you!"

"Welcome to the new level, girls!" Theo flew up to her friends. "Now let's give the big guy here a run for his money!"

"Sure!" Lilymon nodded.

She and the three guardians then began to fly around DarkTyranomon to confuse him and lead him away from the people.

"Mimi, it was your tears of purity that helped me to digivolve. I want to cherish those important feelings of yours. That's why…"

"What are you going to do?"

"Good question…. What?" Sara inquired as she and the girls flew alongside Lilymon.

"Just watch! Flower Collar!" Lilymon flew around and around DarkTyranomon's neck. Then a necklace of pink flowers was around the giant creature's neck. "I've removed the evil virus from him using my flower power. He's not our enemy anymore." Lilymon explained. "He's a very good boy."

To prove a point, she gently petted the dinosaur on its head. DarkTyranomon merely closed its eyes lazily enjoying the attention.

"Amazing!" Mimi said.

"Except that was a little too easy…" Haruna comments uncertainly.

"You have no idea."

They all spun around to see an angry Myotismon hovering only a few yards from them.

"Who's that?" Sara thought aloud.

"Uhm, remember the vampire villain Kylie got mixed up with that's now after us and the eighth chosen kid we told you about...?" Theo explained then pointed to Myotismon.

Sara bit her lip. "Oh-oh…"

"Crimson lightning!" Without warning, Myotismon struck DarkTyranomon fatally, causing the dinosaur to burst into data particles that vanished.

The guardians let out sounds of shock and outrage.

"How could you do that?!" Lilymon uttered the question they'd been thinking.

"All I've done is rid myself of some unnecessary rubbish. You're next." responded the vampire before attempting to strike at them. "Crimson lightning!"

* * *

Beth reluctantly retreated from the mansion with Kylie. The two older girls had ran through the back garden foliage as the Bakemon hovered down after them.

Fortunately, Beth's beloved Esther and Samson made short work of them. The Keeper of the Heart could only hope it would be enough to hold down the fort until Myotismon was defeated.

And the other section of the street, Tai, Agumon and Kari were running just past the warehouse where Matt was hiding.

"Are you okay?" Tai asked Agumon.

"Yeah, somewhat…"

That what when they almost crashed into Beth and Kylie.

"Beth! Kylie!" Tai exclaimed in relief.

"Tai! Girls!" Matt called out to them. "Over here!"

"Matt!"

Two minutes later, while Kari was checking over Agumon, Tai ad the two guardians were informing Matt about what's happened.

"What?!" Matt shouted standing right up in shock.

"I'm not kidding, Kari is the eighth chosen child!" Tai explained to him.

Back at Big Sight, Phantomon destroyed the boom box Sora was holding. The girl was cornered on the bridge by him and multiple Bakemon.

"Now you can try praying so that you can go straight for paradise!" The reaper taunted. "Your life is mine!"

Two 'Bakemon' walked up to her before turning around. "Not a chance!" It was Piyomon and Sora's mother disguised.

"Piyomon, digivolve to…BIRDRAMON!" The appearance of the giant fiery bird was enough to scatter the Bakemon.

And allowing mother and daughter to embrace. "Sora…"

"Mom…"

"Please you've got to run away from here, Sora."

"You should, too!" Sora said softly to her mother.

The Bakemon were headed directly towards them with intents to capture.

"Hurry up and go!" Mrs. Takenouchi ordered, intending to give her child a chance to escape.

"But Mom…!" Sora wailed in horror.

Things were going to worse before they got better, neither the children nor the guardians had any idea of just how much.

**_To be continued…_**

"Please you've got to run away from here, Sora."

"You should, too!" Sora said softly to her mother.

The Bakemon were headed directly towards them with intents to capture.

"Hurry up and go!" Mrs. Takenouchi ordered, intending to give her child a chance to escape.

"But Mom…!" Sora wailed in horror.

Things were going to worse before they got better, neither the children nor the guardians had any idea of just how much.

**_To be continued…_**


	25. Break through the Barrier!

"Flower Canon!"

"Naiad's Attack!"

"Springtime's gust!"

All three attacks hit Myotismon but he merely shrugged them off with a single swipe of his hands.

"It would've been preferable if you'd remained still." He said with a grim smile.

The vampire then held the edges of his cape and opened it, so that it look as though he had wings. "Death Scream!"

Some sort of dark gargoylish shadow shot out and struck Lilymon causing her to scream before her colors dimmed completely until she was all grey.

"LILYMON!" Mimi screamed in distress.

"What did you do to her?!" Theo snapped, turning to face Myotismon.

"Grisly wing!" The swarm of bats charged the three fairies and the petrified Lilymon.

"Lilymon! Hang in there!" Mimi ran right up to the stairs towards them.

Sara and Theo recovered long enough to fly over and grab the plant-fairy digimon by the arms.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon's attack destroyed several of the bats before picking them up in her talons.

The Bakemon within the Big Sight attacked, but this time there weren't any hostages around to make the guardians hold back from attacking. Against what looked to be more than a hundred Bakemon, several spells wasn't enough.

"Sora! You and the girls, take Lilymon and get out of here!" requested Mimi.

"We need back up, we can't do this alone!" Haruna added.

Sora's mother urged her daughter, as she faced the Bakemon herself, pushing for time. "What're you doing?! Hurry!"

Poor Sora. Both her mother and friends were urging her to escape, but they had a point. They needed more help. With teary eyes, Sora got up on the railing of the bridge before jumping onto Birdramon's left talon.

She clung to Birdramon's claw, and when she turned around to look, her mother was already surrounded by the Bakemon. There was no way to retrieve her or Mimi now.

"Mom! Mimi! I'll make sure to save you!" Sora promised as they flew further and further away.

Sara poked her head out from one of Birdramon's talons, "You can count on it!"

That was when the remaining Bakemon grabbed both Sora's mother and Mimi.

* * *

Meanwhile in the warehouse where they were hiding out, Matt informed his friends about what his father had uncovered the previous evening.

"What!?" Tai questioned. "The entire area of Odaiba is isolated?"

"That's right. Myotismon must be behind all of this." Matt assumed. "If not ordered by Lady Despair herself."

"There's no doubt about it. He's blocked out everything in Odaiba just so he can get the eighth child and Kylie!"

Matt added. "He and Lady Despair have captured both adults and children alike without a care."

Beth walked up to them. "It gets worse, Despair has brought the Garthim here to Earth. We can't get ahold of anyone else in the other realms and as you probably noticed, all the electronics are on the fritz." She glared at the gathering fog outside. "They've cut us all off on purpose!"

"Damn it all!" Tai angrily kicked a soda can that rolled all the way to a somber Kari's feet.

"Is this my fault?" Kari asked. "Is it my fault that everyone's suffering? They caught my mom because of me?"

"No, it's not, Kari!" Tai put his hands on her shoulder trying to reassure her. And he paused uncomfortably, "And it's not yours either, Kylie."

Kylie looked at him questioningly. Even if they say it isn't, in a small way it was.

"It's Lady Despair's! Listen, just leave everything to me and Beth here. But I need you stay with Kylie in this place."

Beth, Tai and Agumon had left their siblings with Matt and come to do some enemy surveillance. Tai was also worried about his parents.

* * *

When the Bakemon began kidnapping citizens, Izzy was the first to realize it. He was online when his internet connection shut down, and looking up, he saw Bakemon approaching the condo from the first floor window. Remembering one of the programs that Gennai had installed into his laptop computer, he immediately copied it onto his desktop computer and booted it up both his parents had inadvertently joined him in his own room. He had no idea how effective it was going to be. It was a gamble. The software, called 'Digimon Barrier,' worked wonderfully.

When the Bakemon broke down the door, they couldn't see Izzy and the others inside the room and promptly left to check other rooms. After verifying the source of where the fog was coming from Izzy knew something had to be done.

"Do you really have to go?" Masami said just as Izzy was about to leave the room. Even though he knew his son couldn't be stopped, he tried anyway.

"Yes. You two should stay here until I come back. Quietly though, this barrier doesn't seem to be able to mute sound."

His mother, Yoshie, couldn't stop herself from speaking up either. "You must return to us safely."

"Don't worry. I'll be with Izzy and protect him."

Although it had been explained to them, hearing a ladybug who was almost as big as a toddler talk to her had made Yoshie faint the moment he first spoke before them.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zaira had taken a bike and was already headed for the Hinode Passenger Terminal at full speed only to almost crash into one of her fellow guardians.

"Aah! Yui, you nearly scared me right out of my skin!"

The bouncy haired girl sighed with relief. "Same here. I couldn't get a hold of anyone by phone or by magic, so my only chance was to find you or anyone else. What's your story?"

"Well you made good decision," Zaira informed. "All of Odaiba's covered in the fog and within Lady Despair has got Myotismon rounding up all the citizens at the Big Sight convention in search of Kylie and the Eight Chosen child."

"What?! We got to get there and fast!"

"Let's not transform just yet, I had a premonition on the way here. Looks like we're not the only ones planning to do so."

She wasn't wrong.

* * *

T.K. Takaishi and his mother, Natsuko, took the Setagaya Line from Sangenjaya to Goutokuji station. An avenue that led off from the main street into a residential road had a small French restaurant among the private houses. When Natsuko had returned home late last night, she was surprised to find T.K. at home before her. "I'm so sorry about yesterday. I never thought that camp would be cancelled. If I had known, I would have made you dinner."  
Upon hearing that Matt had made dinner for him, she decided that the two of them should eat lunch at a French restaurant the next day as a small penance.  
"But Brother's spaghetti was delicious. Besides, you were busy with work."

"But I ended up waiting for nothing on one of them, and it pushed back the rest of my plans. That person said he could only meet me on a Sunday, and since that was a camp day, I thought it worked out perfectly and made time for him. And in the end, he stood me up. Isn't that horrible?"

Because her father was French and she herself had lived for a long time in France, Natsuko worked as both a French translator and a writer of non-fiction. Most of her work involved being a reportage writer for physics and chemistry research. Although she couldn't say that she was paid well for it, she felt that this suited her better than a regular desk job. Among her usual jobs, a side project that she was working on involved investigating the 'Hikarigaoka terrorist bombing incident' four years ago.

It was an incident that occurred in the very place where they had lived. Not only did it capture her interest, but as she kept investigating it, she found many aspects about it that weren't acceptable explanations to her. It still wasn't enough information for her to put into an article or a book, but someone, somehow, had managed to find out that she was working on it and had contacted her wanting to talk. But when the time of their appointment came, the man she was supposed to meet didn't appear.

What was that man's name? Oikawa? I think? Well, I'm never going to set up a meeting with him again.

She crunched into an artichoke from their appetizer dish, and heard a stomach growl from across the table. T.K. couldn't tell her that the stomach gurgles were coming from Patamon, who he'd placed on the seat next to him. Patamon was pretending to be a stuffed toy. Because T.K.'s mother was with them, he hadn't been able to eat anything since waking up that morning.  
I can't believe it's harder to find food here than in the Digital World…  
Patamon suppressed his tears. Last night, he had eaten his fill of Matt's spaghetti, but that energy had been spent evolving to Angemon. Patamon continued to be hungry until T.K. pretended to eat bread and secretly nudged it in Patamon's direction.

By the time Yui, Zaira, T.K. and his mother arrived in Shinbashi, the Yurikamome had stopped working. Ships were also prohibited from leaving port, so there was a crowd of people at the Terminal. Odaiba was covered in fog, and there could be no doubt that it was already in a state of chaos.

T.K.'s mother worried. "Not even the ships are working."

"I have to get to Odaiba by the afternoon!" A man shouted.

"Yurikamome Station and the Rainbow Bridge are closed, too!"

"Do something!"

"Calm down, everyone! Please don't push!"

By this point the crowd had gotten unruly, so much that T.K. was unintentionally separated from his mother.

* * *

Meanwhile at the Big Sight by this time the children have been separated from their parents as a result of the breakout attempt.

"What are you going to do to us?!" Mr. Kamiya demanded standing up.

"Give us back our children!" shouted one of the women.

DemiDevimon only sniggered at their indignant demands. "All of you are going to be Lord Myotismon's meal. Go to sleep until then."

Red rings began to shoot from his bat's eyes and soon all the adults in the convention center have fallen into a deep asleep.

The captive children in the meantime were lined up and forced to walk up to Gatomon, who had to say whether or not they were the eighth child. Many of the young ones were crying or close to tears.

"No, it's not him." Gatomon shook her head sadly yet again.

"All right, next."

"It's not her." Again Gatomon shook her head

Myotismon's voice suddenly rang out. "You understand, don't you?"

Immediately, the gathered children began to whimper or wail in pure terror once the vampire materialized from a dark portal. "If you lie to me, I will kill all of the children!"

Gatomon shivered at the thought. She could only pray and hope that both Kari and Kylie have escaped somehow.

It didn't help when Lady Despair emerged from the shadows with the Garthim, a sight that made the children's fear grow.

Gatomon now looked worried, as if Myotismon's anger needed to be further tested.

"Calm down," the evil sorceress said to her glowering son, "I brought a surprise that may serve as further incentive to bring out the Heir from hiding."

The Garthim then tossed out Dana, who was bound in chains.

"You can't do this! You're gonna get in trouble! I'll tell the Council where you are!" the youngest of the guardians was yelling.

"Ahahaha! The Council!?" Lady Despair laughed, and made a mock scared face. "Oh no, not the council!" She leaned over Dana, and tapped the silver talon finger against her cheek. "I am old, child. Older than this world, and before it's Council. Let the Council come, I'd feast on their white magic, and extend my life by another billion years."

She steps back, her scary pink, cat like eyes narrowed on Dana.

"I want them to come, but the dome prevents all from leaving, or entering. But there is ONE person still here. One who will come to us," Lady Despair turns to frown at Myotismon. "You forget my child, even if the 8th chosen one appeared, the Sea Witch's spell would keep her from saying anything, and she'll lie. Whether she wants to or not."

Lady Despair suddenly appears in front of Gatomon, gabbing her with her psychic powers, so to levitate her up. Casing the cat digimon to writhe like her face was grabbed.

"NO! Leave her alone!" Dana shouts, and charged at the sorceress.

Lady Despair didn't look behind herself, as she points back at Dana, and a bright red flash of light engulfs her. The children scream and wail in fear and worry, Myotismon even shielded his eyes. When the light died down, Dana was gone, the only thing left as a strange, amber locket with a gold chain.

"NO! What have you done!?" Gatomon cried out.

Lady Despair hooked the necklace on her finger, and let it dangle in front of Gatomon, like she was trying to hypnotize her for on the front of the locket, was the image of Dana, banging on her prison as she tried to escape.

"We have no need for you, Gatomon." Lady Despair said. "With Dana we will find the Heir, and the others will come running to us. But I am a sentimental woman, so I'll spare you..."

She caressed the floating Gatomon's face, running her hands over her head and down her back, up her tail. Thou Lady Despair flinched her hand away, when the Holy Ring on Gatomon's tail glowed in warning.

"You'll look breath taking as a Lady Devimon, once you've been corrupted." Lady Despair laughed manically.

She steps back, letting Gatomon fall to the floor, the various children cowering, and hugging each other as the Garthim circled them.

"So, you did not get Kylie..." Myotismon asked, arms crossed and frowning at Sierra.

"Does that miserable chit's tramp daughter, really mean that much more to you than your own mother?" Lady Despair asked, clutching the locket holding Dana tightly in her hand with a growl.

"I intend to claim Kylie for my own, whether you approve or not."

As they quarreled, Gatomon watched nervously. She hoped more than ever that both Kylie and Kari have left before things escalate further.

* * *

Back at the terminal, Joe kept getting pushed side to side by the people storming to the front. Quickly, he was forced to push his way outside and take a deep breath.

"I thought I was gonna die in there!" He said to Gomamon, who was still in the bag.

"Joe!" T.K. was standing next to him with a smiling Patamon.

"T.K.!"

"Joe, weren't you in Odaiba?"

"This all happened while I was in summer school."

"Joe! T.K.!" Yui and Zaira ran up to them.

"Zaira! Yui!"

"You don't know how relieved we are to see at least two of you are okay!" Zaira panted.

Joe blinked, stunned. "Two of us, then…?"

The four turned to look at the fog.

"That fog you think it's…" T.K. wondered.

Joe nods. "Yeah. It's most likely Myotismon's work. Odaiba must be in big trouble right now."

T.K. looked very much worried for his brother.

Joe became grimly determined. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get to Odaiba."

"And we're going with you!" Yui chimed in.

"Me too! But how?" T.K. turned to them.

Joe smiled and winked. "With this!" He held up his bag so that Gomamon could poke his head out.

"Gomamon!"

"I needed some air." The seal said.

"All right!" grinned Patamon.

"I'm counting on you, Gomamon." Joe urged.

"Okay! Leave it to me!"

At once the four headed for the docks. While everyone was focused on getting transport, it was needed for the two teenage girls accompanying the boys needed to transform.

"Gomamon, digivolve to… Ikkakumon!"

The sight of Ikkakumon, who was the size of a small truck bristling with fur and two human-sized fairies was enough to start drawing a crowd.

"T.K.! T.K.!" a woman's voice cried.

"Mama!" T.K. had turned around from his spot.

Joe, Yui and Zaira followed his gaze to see a blonde woman running down the docks, trying to catch up to Ikkakumon.

"It's dangerous! Get off that thing!"

"Its okay, Mama! This is Ikkakumon! He's a friend!"

Joe called out to T.K.'s mother. "Hello, pleased to meet you, ma'am! I'm Joe Kido from sixth grade in the same Odaiba elementary school as Matt Ishida. We'll take good care of T.K., so please don't worry!"

Yui fluttered a little closer, waving to T.K.'s mother, "We'll look out for them!"

Was T.K. friends with them? The woman wondered, still unable to process what was happening.

"Mama, don't worry! I'll be fine!" T.K. called back to his mother.

"T.K.!"

"I'll tell Onii-chan and Papa you said hi!" T.K. waved as they started to enter the fog.

* * *

Back in Odaiba, a single Bakemon was resting on a bench when Tai, Agumon and Beth snuck up on it. They started beating up the ghost digimon demanding answers.

"Tai! Beth!"

"Up here!"

They looked up to see Birdramon with Theo, Haruna and Sara G headed their way. The Bakemon they'd ambushed then fled, scared out of his wits.

"They're all in the Big Sight center!" Sora yelled out. "That's where Myotismon is holding everyone upon Despair's orders!"

"They're in the Big Sight?" Tai questioned.

The three guardians landed right in front of them with Sora.

"That's right…" Sora answered. "Mimi is there… And both your parents too."

"What about Dana?" Beth inquired worriedly. "Did you see her there?"

"They got Dana too?!" Theo yelped, her eyes wide.

Tai shared their shock then recovered. "Sora, you and the other three go to Matt! He's with Kylie and Kari in Aqua City."

"I got it!" She nodded.

"Count on us!" Sara G replied.

But as they ran in different directions, they didn't know that they were being spied on. From atop one of the Ferris wheel cabins, Phantomon appeared.

* * *

As they approached the dome of fog, they realized that it wasn't just the thickness of the fog that made it unnatural. It had an invisible pressure as well that blocked them out. Something approached them from within the fog as they neared the Rainbow Bridge.

Something that looked like a giant snake's head surged through the water surface.

"It's huge…!" Zaira cried.

Even just the part alone that rose from beneath the ocean was as big as a three-story building. Its actual body span was probably over tens of meters in length. In the past, they had met an Adult level Digimon named Seadramon, but this Digimon was several times larger and wore a headpiece over its giant head. They could see that it was much stronger than the Seadramon they knew.

"It must be a Perfect level!"

Even so, Ikkakumon didn't hesitate on firing his horns nor did Yui with her spells. There was no doubt in his mind that this was one of Myotismon's minions. Zaira did not, knowing she would cause more harm than good with her power of Thunder.

"Harpoon Vulcan!"

"Starry barrage!"

However, unlike that time, the organic missiles that he was firing didn't give any damage to their opponent, no matter how many were fired into it. The Digimon— MegaSeadramon, fired a lightning bolt from the horn on its head. Ikkakumon quickly moved away to dodge the blow.

But the power of the lightning bolt when it hit the ocean surface was dreadful, and the sea swelled up as if it exploded. Yui and Zaira were blown back into the ocean. Ikkakumon was flown up into the air.

Joe and T.K. were also thrown down. MegaSeadramon, confident in its victory, approached them leisurely. The horn on its head glittered dangerously, ready to strike lightning at any moment. With a direct hit, Ikkakumon wouldn't stand a chance.

"T.K.!" Patamon cried.

The girls barely recovered their energy to figure out what happened. Yet even with their wet wings, they frantically looked round for the boys, only to see T.K. sinking.

Fortunately, Joe grabbed the little boy and pulled him up. Zaira pushed a wooden board towards them, which Joe handed to T.K. But the blast and the exhaustion from the previous night were sapping Joe of his strength.

"Joe!"

Joe smiled to T.K. tiredly. "I promised your mother… That I'll protect you… I have to… keep my promise…"

T.K. frantically kept calling Joe's name while Zaira and Yui dove into the waves to try and save him. As Joe's mind slowly faded to unconsciousness, he only had one wish in mind. 'I have to do whatever it takes to protect T.K. I have to get us all to Odaiba.'

Bathed in that silvery light of the crest, Ikkakumon evolved to Perfect level. "Ikkakumon, digivolve to… Zudomon!"

The hard shell of a turtle's. The long tusks of a walrus. The horn on his forehead as Ikkakumon changed into a different creature with more serrations. His whole body length grew twice as big in size, and he was now as big as MetalGreymon. What was even more different was that he was carrying a giant hammer in his right hand, the Thor Hammer.

At the same time, the digivice's light enveloped Yui. Rings of yellow swept up, giving her new red garments and set of wings.

Zudomon raised the Thor Hammer high, bringing it down on MegaSeadramon's head. The hammer, made out of chrome digizoid, the digital world's strongest metal, easily shattered MegaSeadramon's headpiece to smithereens.

The resulting sparks were so big that it might as well be an explosion flew from the point of impact. That single strike obliterated MegaSeadramon's nervous system. MegaSeadramon slowly fell back into the ocean, not even given the time to scream, disintegrating into particles.

Zudomon brought Joe and the others to rest on his immense back, and stepped into the fog.

Ahead of the Odaiba Seaside Park was a place called 'No. 3 Battery.' It was the remains of a gun battery from the Meiji Restoration period, sitting on a square plot of land that jutted out from the water ahead of a long thin road. It was the place where Gatomon and Wizardmon had fought Myotismon the previous night. Wizardmon had sunk to the ocean depths right next to No. 3 Battery. Myotismon's herd of bats in his 'grisly wing' attack had wounded Wizardmon deeply. Since his body was like the composition of a stuffed doll, being permeated with water made his limbs drag down. He was unable to move with his own strength any longer. The only things he did not lose his grip on, even in unconsciousness, were his magic staff

"Take me to Gatomon!"

"Wh-Who's that?" Patamon looked around.

Zaira pointed to the water. "Look there!"

Of course, Zudomon scooped up Wizardmon as well. As a Perfect level, the pressure of the fog felt like nothing and he was able to enter into Odaiba.

Wizardmon's consciousness fluttered back faintly. He was able to register that he had been saved, and that he was gripping his staff and the Crest in his hands. However, there was something more important to focus on than that right now.

"It's the Crest of Light… I must give this to Gatomon… and Kari…"

* * *

The condominiums, recreational facilities, company buildings, and hotels in Odaiba were as empty as the Fuji TV office building. Not a single human remained. Myotismon's subordinates were scarily efficient.

But not even the Bakemon were aware that Matt and the others were hiding inside a building a few short blocks from the Fuji TV building that was under construction. The construction site, which was planned to be a comprehensive recreational facility called 'Aqua City' when complete, was still covered by cloth on the outside, while the inside was bare with steel beams.

Somewhere in the background was the sound of water dripping. A wind gently lifted up one end of the cloths covering the building under construction.

"Two hours are almost up." Matt looked at his Digivice. "Where are they?"

Kari was greatly worried as was Kylie.

"Matt! Kylie! Kari!" That was Sora's voice!

They ran out to greet her, Haruna, Theo and Sara. Once Birdramon gently set her down, Haruna and Sara G were hovering over Lilymon in concern.  
"Sora!"

"Matt! Everyone is held captive at Big Sight!"

"Big Sight?" Matt asked.

However a sinister laugh filled the air. Standing on the bridge above them was Phantomon!

"Even if I don't find the eighth child or the heir, I'll still be rewarded for destroying you! Your lives will end here! Come on out!"

A giant praying mantis, Snimon, and a dinosaur with two giant horns like those of a bull protruding out from its shoulders, Tuskmon. Snimon's scythes easily cut through steel beams, and the power from Tuskmon's charges could easily bulldoze Digimon of the same level.

Garurumon and Birdramon rushed straight into battle as did the guardians.

Kylie was too shocked to move. Then Phantomon threw his chain around Matt's neck strangling him, Sora rushed over to help but she was thrown back.

It was more than Kari could bear. If they kept this up, Myotismon would kill them all.

Kylie stood rooted to the ground. So what if she would escape now? Lady Despair would always come after her, she and Myotismon would find her…unless they destroyed him. Kylie knew Myotismon was too dangerous to be left wandering free, but the thought of his death frightened her. She was afraid of losing the person she loved, she just didn't know what he was anymore. 'I can't avoid Myotismon forever…sooner or later he's bound to find me. . .'

Finally, Kylie made her ultimate decision. She lifted her head and cried, "Phantomon, STOP!"

At the sound of Kylie's order, the offending Digimon turned to look at her.

Before Kylie could even stop her, Kari walked right up and spoke: "It's me you want: I'm the eighth child. I'll follow you quietly. So please, stop hurting everyone."

"Kari, don't!" Kylie gasped.

"I praise you for your good intentions." Phantomon lowered his scythe. "Very well." He called off the opposing digimon and released Matt.

Kylie then stepped in front of Kari protectively. "I'm Sirene's heir. I assume your master gave orders that I was to be brought back to him; you have me, and I assure you that neither of us will run. You have my word."

"My Lady has given me strict instructions in regards to the Eighth child," Phantomon declared. "But Lord Myotismon had his own for you...I will take you, and let THEM be the judges."

"Thank you," Kari hung her head.

Phantomon engulfs the two girls in a floating purple sphere and takes them away.

**_To be continued…_**


	26. Sparkling Angewomon

Because Zudomon was now evolved to Perfect level, Joe's digivice unlocked the ability to detect his friends' digivices and thus their locations. The digivice showed that three of their friends were in one spot, while the other three were off at a distance. "But this direction looks a little different from where we live…"  
Joe tilted his head in thought. The three closest dots didn't look like they were at the condominiums, as he was expecting, but closer to Fuji TV station. Zudomon headed that way. As he did so, the three dots that were further away looked to be heading their way. One of the dots from the three closest to them broke off from the group. Joe didn't know that the three dots at a distance were Tai and Mimi, with Tai holding Kari's digivice, while the one dot that separated was Izzy.

* * *

After Mimi was recaptured, she was shoved into a line with the other children that were being shown one by one before a reluctant Gatomon. What's going to happen if they recognized her as one of the Chosen children? There was no chance of escape, not with all the Garthim guarding the exits. What's more, that horrible woman Despair was there with Myotismon and had trapped Dana in a locket, what were they planning?

"Lady D! Lord Myotismon" DemiDevimon shouted as he flew in.

"What is it?"

"I got good news from Phantomon. We've found both the eighth child and Sirene's heir."

The news shocked all three: Gatomon, Myotismon and Lady Despair.

"What? How did they find them?!" Mimi gasped quietly.

Gatomon's expression turned from surprise to sorrow. Oh no…

"Did you hear that, Gatomon?" The vampire taunted.

Gatomon glowered at him, not saying a word.

"No! I mean..." Lady despair looked frustrated in what to do in this situation. "I should feel joy, but annoyed you found Kylie before me."

Myotismon hissed at Despair, who swishes her skirt in frustration and marches over to Demidevimon, snatching him out of the air to stare him in the eyes. "Bring then here, we'll deal with them immediately," Lady Despair lets go of the mini devil who falls to the floor.

She turns to frown at Myotismon. "We will discuss what to do with the Heir AFTER, we deal with the immediate threat of the 8th child."

"All right. Now that we know that, there's no sense remaining here."

"Right! What do you want me to do with the children?" DemiDevimon asked.

Lady Despair smirked "I'm sure we can work out something."

"Put them to sleep. I'll savor them for later." Myotismon smirked.

The small bat snickered. The children fell to the ground like dolls with their strings cut. They had been put into a deep, unshakeable slumber.

"I wish you all a peasant slew, because you will not awaken again, Children." Despair laughed.

Her laughter was cut off, when she spotted Mimi, still awake with her crest flowing under her shirt.

"Ahhhh! IT'S THE SINCERITY HOLDER! SEIZE HER!" Lady Despair screamed pointing at Mimi.

The Garthim immediately appeared with the Bakemon, ad charged, only for the whole building to shake, and a large crack appearing between Mimi and the enemies. The girl didn't question, and ran off.

"Is there a DarkTyranomon loose, what is that!?" DemiDevimon wailed, as he tried to fly up.

A woman's laughter echoed through the room, purple bubbles of magic encased the sleeping children, teleporting them away, as the Garthim fell through the floor from the crumbling ground.

"DAMN HER! Damn that Sea hag!" Lady Despair fumed. "BAKEMON, AFTER THAT CHOSEN CHILD!"

"Not likely."

The voice of the Dark Spectre Queen echoed out, as a bubble encased Mimi, repelling the Bakemon, and teleporting her away to safety too.

Lady Despair grabbed at her hair and grit her teeth. "This day was turning out so nice!"

* * *

Outside, Beth, Tai and Greymon glanced up to see Myotismon and Lady Despair flying away with Gatomon. The trio raced inside one empty room only to almost fall over in shock at the sight of so many purple bubbles. Where did they all come from? A closer revealed to be holding several children fast asleep.

"Look there!" Beth pointed.

A bewildered Mimi, still in her pink pajamas, was looking over the sleeping children. She then glanced up and called out to them: "Tai! Beth!"

"Where is everyone?" Beth asked.

"Where are my parents?" Tai asked Mimi.

"Everyone's just asleep. I think they're all okay."

They almost let out a sigh of relief, when Mimi's next words set Tai and Beth back on edge immediately.

"Except they got Dana trapped in some necklace and Myotismon left here not a moment ago with Despair because they found Gatomon's partner and Kylie!"

"What?!" Beth hollered.

"They've got Kari?!" Tai was shocked.

"As in your sister Kari?" Mimi was surprised.

* * *

Meanwhile, Izzy and Tentomon had made their way to the Fuji TV station where they'd run into Matt and T.K.'s father, Hiroaki Ishida. They'd been trying to reach the outside with the satellite but it was hopeless.

Izzy had looked out the glass widow then gasped, "There's Matt and Sora with the guardians!"

"What? Matt?" Mr. Ishida stood up from the chair he was sitting in and hurried to the window. "What is he doing here?"

He was stunned when he first saw Sara, Theo and Haruna fly up ahead. "Fairies?!" However the sight of Garudamon and Garurumon and backed up. "M-Monsters!"

"They're not monsters, they're Digimon." Izzy corrected.

Mr. Ishida turned to his in confusion.

"The monsters that were being broadcasted on the news are called Digimon. But don't worry, the one with Matt and Sora are on our side just like the fairies you just saw."

"On your side? But…"

"What I mean to say is that there are both good and evil Digimon. The ones you see out there are our comrades- our friends!"

"He's right!" Tentomon said.

"The bug talked…?" Matt's father was flabbergasted.

Finally the group below reached the TV building's main plaza where Mr. Ishida and Izzy awaited.

"Matt! Sora! Theo! Sara! Haruna, down here!" Izzy called out to us.

Garudamon set Sora down gently.

"Izzy! So this is where you were!" Sora said.

"Matt!" Mr. Ishida addressed his son.

"Dad!"

"Why didn't you stay put?!" Matt's father scolded.

"I'm sorry."

Garurumon then lowered his head closer, scaring Matt's father.

"Hello, Matt's father. We meet again." Garurumon closed his eyes briefly as if attempting to reassure the man

"A-Again? What the devil are you?"

"I'm not a devil. I'm Garurumon, digivolved from Gabumon."

"Gabumon? Digivolved?"

The guardians fluttered down to them.

"Oh, you must be Matt and T.K.'s father!" Sara G waved.

Mr. Ishida stammered in surprise. "Wh- I- yes. Yes, I am. But, who are you?!"

"Oh that's right, we were the counselors in training for when your boys arrived to the camp that was canceled because of the snow." Haruna explained. "I'm Haruna and that's Sara."

"Name's Theo, put 'er there!" Theo extended her hand out to a bemused Mr. Ishida.

"Hey!" A voice called out to them.

The guardians looked over and grinned from ear to ear. "Oh good, we got reinforcements!" Sara declared.

Next to a large Digimon that they've never seen before was T.K., running towards them waving one arm. Joe and Patamon were there too with Yui and Zaira in Digix form fluttering above them.

"Onii-chan! Papa!"

"T.K.!" Matt brightened, relieved to see his younger brother safe.

"T.K…?" Mr. Ishida mumbled softly as his youngest child ran up and hugged him.

"Papa!"

"Why… are you here?"

"I was so worried about you and Onii-chan that I just had to come here! Mama came with me but we got separated along the way."

Mr. Ishida didn't say a word but he put a gentle hand on T.K.'s head and smiled. Then everyone's attention was directed to the mysterious Digimon that was accompanying Joe's group. The Digimon with the wizard's hat walked right up to the still petrified Lilymon, who was in Garudamon's hand.

"Who is that Digimon?" Izzy questioned.

"What are you planning to do?" Matt demanded.

"She was attacked by Myotismon's death scream wasn't she?" Wizardmon inquired somberly.

"So what if she was?" Sora asked in a distrustful voice.

Zaira held them back. "Just wait and see."

Wizardmon merely put his hands up, made some hand symbols and then turned an emerald as he held them up to Lilymon. The green light spread to the flowery fairy and all the color returned to her.

Everyone gasped in amazement. "Lilymon!"

"Huh? What happened to me?" Lilymon then smiled and flew to stand in front of them, ready for action.

T.K. ran over in front of Wizardmon protectively to shield him from the others. "Don't hurt him, he isn't a bad Digimon! He has a Tag and Crest!"

"Yes, it's true!" Yui nods earnestly.

"A Crest?" Sora had questioned.

"He's not lying, it's the truth!" Joe confirmed. "Look."

Wizardmon held out the crest of light for the others to see for themselves.

"Kari's Tag and Crest." The Digimon said. "Gatomon has been taken by Myotismon and I want to save her. But Myotismon and Despair intervened," Wizardmon said. "She revealed the truth, Gatomon is not an actual digimon. Created from the essence of The Heir's Mother, Sirene. That is why Gatomon is so powerful, and destined for such greatness. For she is born of Sirene, almost the same as Kylie herself."

"Gatomon?" Sora wondered.

"Gatomon is the 8th Digimon!" T.K. informed them.

Theo scratched her head, "Wait a minute, if Gatomon was created by Sirene..."

"... in some weird way this would make her Kylie's sister?!" Yui gaped, her eyes wide.

"In essence, yes." A voice spoke and in a sparkle of purple light, Vanessa appeared in front of the children.

"Your Dark Majesty, you got through the fog barrier?!" Zaria asked in shock.

"No, I've been here he whole time to keep watch over Kari, but with Lady Despair's interference, it's hard for me to keep track."

Wizardmon added. "Gatomon's only chance is for Kari to be given her crest and digivice, where is she?"

Matt's face fell. "Well…Kylie and Kari have been captured and taken to the roof of the building."

"Moments ago, Mr. Gennai had sent me and e-mail saying where the source of Myotismon's barrier is!" Izzy pointed to the dome shaped area of the Fuji TV building.

They all looked up in time to see Myotismon headed for the viewing platform with Gatomon.

"It's Myotismon!" shouted Matt.

"Speak of the devil…" Haruna glowered.

"Gatomon!" Wizardmon cried. "Myotismon…!" His voice got dark as it was full of anger.

"We have to stop them," The Dark Spectre Queen waved her hand in front of her Sampo, so it glows brightly with magic power. "With Despair there, it will be nearly impossible for you to fight Myotismon, but I can handle her fine enough. However we must stop her, for if Kylie perishes, there's no telling what she can do with that raw magical essence!"

"We've got to get up to the view platform!" Matt ordered.

"All right! I'll guide you there!" Mr. Ishida agreed.

Before they could step forward two digimon burst out of the ground. It was the same ones that attacked them when Kari and Kylie had given themselves up. A giant praying mantis, Snimon, and a dinosaur with two giant horns like those of a bull protruding out from its shoulders, Tuskmon. Snimon's scythes easily cut through steel beams, and the power from Tuskmon's charges could easily bulldoze Digimon of the same level. Snimon swung down and very nearly impaled Sora but she managed to back away just in time.

"Garurumon, ultra digivolve to… WEREGARURUMON!"

"We'll take care of them." Garudamon informed the group.

"Likewise!" Sara replied, flying to aid the digimon in battle.

"Go save Kari!" Zudomon said.

"We'll meet you at the top!" Yui added.

"Okay." Matt nodded.

"All right, let's go!" Mr. Ishida motioned us to move.

The children ran for the door, behind them Wizardmon stumbled, causing T.K. to run back for him.

"Wizardmon! Are you okay?"

Mr. Ishida rushed over. "Let me give you a hand! Come on!" He picked up the wizard Digimon and they ran for the front doors.

* * *

Inside, Phantomon holds up his scythe. Kari is staring bravely at him, not showing her fear. Kylie has a gentle hand on her shoulder. Soon enough, the bats enter the viewing platform. Myotismon slowly lowers himself down, still holding Gatomon by the scruff in his right hand.

Kylie's eyes met Myotismon's.

"I do apologize, My Love." Myotismon gave a passing glance to his mother, who was talking to Phantomon. "If I had any idea she would take the Garthim to find you, and attack your home..." Myotismon takes her hand in his, and caresses the back gently. "I swear, you will be safe with me. Even if I have her blood in my veins, I will not allow her to cause you any harm."

Kari and Gatomon watch uncomfortably.

At that moment Myotismon addressed Kari. "Little girl. Why did you reveal yourself? Do you know what I'm going to do to you?"

"I can imagine it."

"Then why?"

"Because everyone's suffering."

"What?"

"I did it because you were hurting everyone!" Kari snapped, only to stiffen when Phantomon's scythe was moved so Lady Despair could take a look at Kari.

The Sorceress was in a blood red dress, with a black crystal like spider brooch in the center of her chest, and a belt of skulls with rubies on her waist. Kari shivered, but met Lady Despair's pink, cat slit pupil eyes with her own.

Sierra gave a chuckle as she softly stroked the girl's cheek with the finger encased in a silver talon finger guard. "You have the gift of courage, child." Lady Despair praised.

"No...No, I'm very afraid." Kari confessed with a glare.

"But that is courage. To act despite the fear permeating from your heart," Lady Despair laughed in soft, sinister manner. "And I can smell your fear, it makes my magic stronger just being here, so close to you."

Sierra brushed the back of her hand over Kari's face and pulled away. "I can respect a girl with conviction," Lady Despair crossed her arms. "Though I'm not too terribly pleased with your brother and his friends getting in my way, and killing my two children."

Kari looked surprised to hear that, but frowns up at Lady Despair. "If they were hurting people, then they got what they deserved!" Kari shot back.

Gatomon gasped in alarm, but Lady Despair laughed her head off.

"Oh, you are a bold child with pluck!" Lady Despair's hand lashed out and dug her fingers into Kari's hair to lift the girl, screaming in pain as she dangled in the air.

"I HATE 'Pluck.'" Lady Despair hissed, and dropped Kari roughly to the floor.

Lady Despair then grabbed Kylie by the cheek, and her Scepter shot an energy blast at Myotismon when he took a step to halt her, unable to do but watch. The teenager whimpered in pain as Sierra dugs her talon into the younger woman's cheek, causing her to bleed slightly, as Sierra hissed into her ear.

"I CURSE you, Child. For your beauty, for your purity, for the innocence of your flesh." Lady Despair growled viciously. "For the hold you have over my child."

"MOTHER! Release her at once," Myotismon glared at Kari. "Or I send the Eighth child BACK to her family."

Kylie blinked in shock, even Kari was stunned. Sierra spun around with a hiss, staring at Myotismon incredulously, but knowing full well he was being serious. She let go of Kylie, fixing her with an angry stare, but then a slow, wicked smile form over her face. And that smile made Kylie's blood grow cold.

"Someday, Child. When my son tires of you," Lady Despair waved a hand at Kylie. "You'll belong to me. Then you'll know Horror."  
"Gatomon, why aren't you looking at this child?" He thrusted Tailmon, still dangling from his grip, towards Kari.

"Because I don't know her." Gatomon answered, her face was turned away from both Kylie and Kari. "She's not the eighth child."

"I see." Myotismon merely snapped his fingers.

Demidevimon pulled at Kari's hair, causing her to yell in pain.

"Kari!" Gatomon shouted out, turning to Kari in distress. Unfortunately, it made her drop the bluff.

"That hurts! Let go!" Kari whimpered.

"I see. So Kari is the name of the eighth child." Myotismon said.

"Charming." Lady Despair sneers. "Hikari, Kari...the Japanese love their word plays."

She brushes Demidevimon away from Kari, and places her hands on Kari's shoulder. "Rest assured, Child. Your death will be quick and painless," Lady Despair smiles. "You see, I'll let you in on a little secret. Sometimes, too much dark magic is a bad thing, and I'm required to...abandon my body. So, before that can happen this time around..." She leans over to whisper into Kari's ear, whose eyes along with Gatomon's own, as her feline hearing picked up Sierra's words.

"I plan to expel your soul and take your body to extend my life," Lady Despair whispered, before bursting into cold laughter.

"No!" Kylie gasped.

Gatomon then burst free from Myotismon's grasp and stood protectively in front of Kari and Kylie.

"No, you won't -" Kylie's defiant words were cut off with a yelp as she was suddenly pulled forwards and shoved into Myotismon's arms.

"I remember your mother's last breath so vividly," Lady Despair gloats. "It was one of my most precious memories, as it's not often one destroys a paragon of virtue and good."

"You sick, vile, wicked, contemptible, black hearted sorceress!" Kylie screams.

"Aw, thank you, Kylie. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." Lady Despair said with a smile.

"You killed my mother, and now you want to kill Kari!" Kylie hissed.

"Oh, no...not me. Sadly, that honor went to another one of my children," Lady Despair states. "But I think I'll leave you dangling, wondering who did the deed. But I wouldn't try anything, otherwise your baby sister would pay the price." The beldam motioned to the locket where Dana was held captive.

"Dana!" Kylie attempted to reach out even as she's held back.

Lady Despair huffed but turned to Kari and Gatomon.

"Mega Blaster!"

At the same time an electric shock pierced through the round ceiling. Kabuterimon rushed in from the bottom floor. The heroic group had seen that Lady Despair and Myotismon in this room through a window in Fuji TV.

"Electro blast!"

"Springtime gust!"

"Naiad's attack!"

"Starry barrage!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Oh please. You wish to battle? I think we can oblige!" Despair mocked waving her staff.

The redirection of the attacks blew off part of the roof.

Myotismon flew out through a split in the ceiling, his arm protectively around Kylie's waist. "It's gotten noisy here. We'll move to a quieter place."

Against their will, Kari and Gatomon felt themselves pulled upwards as though by a tractor beam.

"I won't let you!" Matt shouted out. "WereGarurumon!"

WereGarurumon literally clawed his way up the side of the building, leaping upwards and landing in front of the vampire and the sorceress. Myotismon merely chuckled darkly.

"You have no time to be laughing!" Sora snapped.

Garudamon was carrying Zudomon up to the top. Around them were six of the guardians.

"Kabuterimon, ultra digivolve to… MEGAKABUTERIMON!"

Zudomon hit a corner of the Fuji TV building, sending sparks flying. But Myotismon shook the sparks off with his cape.  
Garudamon's advancing shadow lit up in flames. This was absorbed by the large swarm of bats that flew out from within his cape. Megakabuterimon's attack was shaken off with one wave of Myotismon's cape, and MegaKabuterimon himself was snapped backwards and nearly knocked WereGarurumon off the roof.

"Crimson lightning!" The red whip struck the werewolf digimon on the knuckles and sent him falling.

"WereGarurumon!" Matt cried out.

"You're wasting your time." Myotismon taunted but is hit from behind.

"My son!" Lady Despair turned the moment he was struck

Unhurt Myotismon turns around to see who dared hit him. There behind him, fully recovered was Wizardmon!

"Kari! Here catch!" Wizardmon throws her the crest and tag. Kari quickly catches in her hands.

"Wizardmon!" Gatomon sees her friend that she thought was presumed destroyed.

"So you're still alive?" Myotismon says disappointed.

"I'm the type who makes sure to pay back all of my debts." Wizardmon responded snippily.

"We will see!" Myotismon shoots Wizardmon in the chest with an energy ball, throwing him back.

"Wizardmon!" Gatomon shouted. She, Kari and Kylie stared worriedly.

"Little girl! Hand that over!" Myotismon ordered Kari, wanting the crest and tag back.

Kari clutches the tag and crest not really knowing the true power of the device. "NO!"

"That's not a request!" Lady Despair snapped.

"WAIT!" Everyone looks over to the other building right across from where they stand.

"MIMI!" Lilymon's relieved voice is heard.

"This a private party, or can we cut in?" Beth teased, flying into view.

Standing on the other building was Tai and Greymon.

"You're gonna pay big time for messing with my sister! Kari here catch!" Tai takes Kari's Digivice and throws it over.

Mid-way to Kari's arms, out of nowhere; Demidevimon appears and snatches the device.

"As long as we have this, there's nothing to fear," Demidevimon sneers with a grin.

"That's nice work. Go get them Phantomon," Myotismon congratulates Demidevimon and sends Phantomon out towards Tai.

"Greymon ultradigivolve to...METALGREYMON!"

Phantomon stops in midair, and floats backwards.

MetalGreymon attacks with "GIGA-BLASTER!"

The two missiles fly straight towards Myotismon and Phantomon. The vampire calmly puts his hand forward. The missiles came to a standstill just in front of him, disappearing into particles but Myotismon and Phantomon are unscathed.

All the Ultimate Digimon's attacks head straight towards Myotismon, but once again, he raises his hand and all the attacks disintegrate. The Digimon are all surprised at his powers.

"No, Myotismon please, it doesn't have to be this way!" Kylie had pulled at his arm. "Don't hurt them!"

"If you will consent to be my bride, Kylie." Myotismon declared intensely, turning so that they were face to face. "There is no other for whom my heart beats so passionately."

"Garthim!" Lady Despair suddenly called out, and a scuttling noise was heard. "Attack!"

The garthim appeared, snapping their lobster claws, they charged at the Digimon and fairies, but then out of the ground seemed to explode multiple warriors made of stone, leading the charge was one with wings it seemed, and sporting a falcon faced helmet.

"Warriors of Vulcan's Forge, Attack!" The bird themed stone warrior yelled.

The warriors drew their weapons, and charged at the Garthim, clashing with bright sparks, the warriors slashing at them and the Garthim lashing out to grab, or crush them with their hands.

But the warriors had spears, and some of them managed to stab at the chest of the Garthim, causing them to fall to pieces to the floor.

"Hey, they're hollow!" Mimi gasped.

"Of course, My Dear." The voice of the Sea Witch exclaimed, as she appeared as though emerging from a rippling body of water.

"The Garthim were corpses fused together, and from that one, Lady Despair created multiple copies. They are animated solely by her magic, and her power over all things Empty." Vanessa explained with a wave of her scaly hands. "And without it, are nothing."

"Oh, and the Stone Warlords are better, Sea Hag?" Lady Despair asked with a glower. "Rocks and pebbles, given fancy weapons to fight."

"I use the Flame of Eternity to bring them to life, they're capable of thought and are alive, unlike your crab-brained soldiers!" Vanessa shot back. "I wasn't going to let you slaughter these brave children with the Garthim, like you did to countless Gelfling on Thra!"

"I did what I did to protect my children!" Lady Despair said with a hand clenched over her chest, as her eyes became saddened and miserable.

"And look what good it did: several dead, their souls wandering the unknown and the rest rightfully returned to the stars as Urskeks," Vanessa said in snide tone.

Lady Despair stared in shock, before her face contorted with anger, and that anger became a massive ball of red magic she hurled at the Sea Witch and fairies.

"PSYCHO BOMBER!" Lady Despair shouts.

"TRITON'S CALL!" Vanessa waved her hands, and a water spout engulfed the ball of magic, dissipating it.

"Girls, Dana is trapped in that locket around her neck!" Kylie then informed.

"Dana?!" Beth yelled.

From behind, T.K. looks into Patamon's eyes. They both nod, knowing what they must do.

"Patamon digivolve to...ANGEMON!" The light fades away and Angemon is there.

"He digivolved!" Myotismon sneered, about to prepare another Grisly wing attack.

"Don't forget about me!" Vanessa stated. Reaching into a little pouch, she picked up and threw some purplish dust at the locket. "Try this on for size, my dark Spectre particles!"

"Ahhh! NOT THOSE ACCURSED PARTICLE'S!" Lady Despair shrieked.

She ripped the necklace off her neck, and hurled it, where it began to crack in midair, shattering, causing Dana to be caught by Angemon as she fell.

"You sure know how to sweep a fairy off her feet." Dana smiled. "Time for me to get into the game!"

In a flash of silvery breeze and multicolored leaves she transformed.

"Wretched pests!" Lady Despair holds up her hands in a claw gesture, and opens her mouth. "PSYCHO STORM!"

And a cyclone of red energy shot out of her mouth, blasting through the fairies, causing them to hold their heads, screaming in pain.

"HAND OF FATE!" Angemon yells.

He punches through the air, and the beam of holy light strikes Lady Despair in the neck.

"AAAAHHHHH! MY NECK!" Lady Despair screamed in agony, and fell over to the ground.

"MOTHER!" Myotismon cried out in alarm.

"Now, this is for abducting Dana," Angemon called out, flying forward to bring his staff down on the woman. "HOLY ROD!"

Phantomon hovers in front of Lady Despair to protect the evil sorceress. He blocks the rod with his scythe, and pushed away Angemon.

"Shadow Scythe!" Phantomon calls out, and moves his scythe down to slice Angemon.

"Hammers!" Vanessa called out.

Out of the ground came a very large Stone Warriors, two massive hammer mallets attached to his wrists, blocking the strike from Phantomon.

"HA! You ain't getting past me, ghosty!" Hammers laughed.

"Starshine gems!" Yui called out, waving her hands in front of herself.

Dazzling pieces of light appeared, and shot forward, striking Phantomon backwards.

"And now, to lay the hammer down!" Hammers laughed, he lifted his arm over his head to strike the helpless Sierra.

"CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"

Myotismon's whip crashed against Hammers, sending him stumbling backwards, as two Garthim appeared, lifting Despair up with their grabbing hands to carry her out of harm's way.

Angemon and WereGarurumon attacked at the same time. It was a direct hit. But it had no effect.

"Remember where you are?"

Red lightning swung. Angemon and WereGarurumon were hurtled into the air.

"This is my barrier."

His next hit sent Theo and Zaira slam against one of the walls.

"My domain! The first step to turning this world and the Digital World into darkness will take place here!"

Within his barrier, Myotismon's powers were amplified to ten times their original force. From behind him, Sara flew out from a blind spot with both arms poised. But before she could attack, red lightning cracked and she flew backwards.

"Having the bad guy be lot tougher than he looks routine is getting old!" Theo quipped.

"You girls know what has to be done," Vanessa huffed in frustration. "This can only end through Kari!"

Kylie quickly transforms, intent on recovering the digivice from Demidevimon. Once she does, she'll bind her lover and see him judged by the Wizengamot.

"HAND OF FATE!" Angemon clenches his right hand with his fist and from it shoots a bright light, straight at Myotismon.

The vampire had no time to block and is hit by it, he covers himself with his cloak. Phantomon, who is beside him is destroyed. Myotismon holds himself, shivering from the bright light of justice.

"Myotismon, its best that you give yourself up!"

Myotismon looks up with a sneer on his face. "Don't think that was enough to defeat me!"

"Stop your taunting, either you finish the nymph's brood or the eighth brat! Lest I make the decision for you!" Despair shouted.

This was met with an actual feral snarl. Myotismon made his choice at once, "GRISLY WING!"

Without warning, he launches his attack. But it isn't aimed at Angemon, but at KARI! Everybody is frozen with shock at Myotismon's surprise attack.

"Kari! Gatomon!" Kylie had cried.

Wrath. And fear. A great swarm of bats flew towards Kari and Gatomon. They were no longer living life forms, but a lethal weapon that immediately deleted their own data upon hitting their target, forcing their opponent to be annihilated as well.  
It was neither Kari nor Gatomon that was hit.

Mustering up the last of his magical powers, Wizardmon flew through the air and stood in front of them. The bats disappeared into Wizardmon's body as if they were being sucked in. With arms outstretched, Wizardmon sacrifices his life to save Kari and Gatomon. Gatomon sees Wizardmon's noble act and sees his cloak being shredded. Gatomon can do nothing but look.

Wizardmon fell slowly to the ground. The data composition of his body was already breaking down. Kari and Gatomon rushed to him.

"Wizardmon! You can't die! Don't die! Wizardmon!" Kari pleaded, holding his body.

Gatomon kneels besides her fallen friend and comrade. Hot tears roll down her blue eyes. "Wizardmon," Gatomon whispered in a dumbfounded stupor. "I'm sorry, Wizardmon… for getting you involved in this."

Wizardmon looked into Gatomon's tearful eyes. "I should be thanking you. If I hadn't met you, my life wouldn't have had any meaning. I am glad… to have met you."

"Wizardmon..."

Ever since she rescued him, they had been great friends. Helping each other out accomplishing Myotismon's wishes, getting each other out of trouble and being the best of friends. Now, the friendship is going to end; but no, Wizardmon will always live inside her. That is forever.

"Thank you..."

Leaving only that smile behind, he perished. Tiny pixels replace his solid body and the pixels flow up into the air and vanish into a bright light. Wizardmon died a hero's death and he has no regrets. He found good and died a good Digimon, though he had led an evil Digimon's life. In the end, he was and forever will be a good Digimon; and forever be best friends with Gatomon.

"No, Wizardmon... NO!" Kari shrieked.

Like a mini-explosion, light erupted from her Crest and digivice. Demidevimon is having trouble holding onto the flashing Digivice. "I can't hold on!"

"I did tell you, Wizardmon." Vanessa shut her eyes as glowing, purple tears streaked down her cheeks. "You had a role to play, so important. And I was right...sadly."

Enveloped in white light, Gatomon's body rose into the air. The light was so bright to Myotismon that he was forced to cover his face with his cape.

Everyone else who had come to the top floor of Fuji TV, saw Gatomon change dramatically within the light.

A bright light transmits out of the digivice and through a crest. The picture of the crest is a flower with tiny diamond shaped petals going around it. The new light flows shines itself on...Gatomon. She turns a marble color, her whole body turns a pink marble wave color and the bright light flows through her. We can only see her outline as she grows taller, it seems that she has grown into a woman with long hair. Her paws/gloves slip off her delicate hands. A winged glove fits over her hand. Winged shoes appear on her feet and a robe and scarf fit around her body. Gatomon's eyes are seen and a metal mask covers over it. Eight wings from behind emerge and we can finally see her fully digivolved form. "Gatomon digivolve to...Angewomon!"

"Gatomon turned into an angel?" Kari says, looking up in wide eyed wonder.

Lady Despair actually face-palmed. "Another one?!"

She looked like a celestial maiden wearing an angel's raiment, or like an angel with spread wings. The only thing different was the helmet she wore that covered her head down to her eyes. "Myotismon, I will not judge you for courting my blood sister Kylie. However, not only did you and your mother interfere with the mission of both the Chosen Children and the guardians alike, but you have invaded the human world and killed my friend, Wizardmon. Learn the full weight of your sins!"

Myotismon could finally look upon Angewomon. "I will change everything in this world into darkness! Once Earth is fused with the Digital World, and become King of the Digiworld with Sirene's daughter as my bride. And no angel, spell-caster or Digimon has the power to stop me!"

Sierra turns to see her son set his sights on Kylie, and Lady Despair growls angrily, already irritated over being thwarted. She clenches her fist to cause a powerful surge of energy to go through Kylie.

"AAAAAHHH!" Kylie screamed in agony.

"KYLIE!" Everyone yelled in alarm.

"MOTHER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Myotismon demands.

"I warned you once, already, My Son!" Lady Despair growled out. "I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS NYMPH'S BROOD IN OUR FAMILY!"

"You shall not harm her!" Angewomon declared firmly.

Lady Despair glared, but panicked on feeling the power of Angewomon, which was the essence of Sirene, her enemy thought to have been long dead.

"MYOTISMON, GET AWAY FROM HER!" Lady Despair screamed, only to have a scaly hand clasped over her mouth, and struggling with the Sea witch.

The two fought, until Vanessa grabs the back of Sierra's neck, and sends a volt of electricity through her neck.

"AHHH!" Lady Despair screamed and fell to the ground.

"Your point of weakness," Vanessa intones seriously. "You really should get around to finding some protection for it, My Lady." She said the last part sarcastically.

Myotismon turned and saw his mother prone at Vanessa feet, and felt his lips curl in rage.

"How dare you touch My Maker?!" Myotismon snarled, forgetting about Angewomon, and foolishly turning his back to her.

"Nightmare..." Myotismon crossed his arms to attack The Sea Witch.

"HEAVEN'S CHARM!"

Angewomon lifted her arms into the air, and a rainbow cloud appeared, showered down a wave of rainbow light. It touched Myotismon, whose eyes bulged out in agony, his teeth grit, and arms spasming, but unable to move. While Lady Despair screamed at Vanessa's feet. She grabbed at her flowing, golden hair, writhing under the power of the holy magic.

"AKU TAKE YOU WRETCHED ANGEL!" Lady Despair wailed in pain.

All the garthim stopped attacking the Warriors of Vulcan's forge, and the pink light left their eyes, before they turned grey, and fell to pieces.

"My strength is being restored!" MetalGreymon alerted.

WereGarurumon jumped back on the roof.

"Let's give our power to Angewomon!" Garudamon suggested.

"We have to do it together!" Beth cried.

"Horn Buster!" "Flower Cannon!" "Hammer Spark!" "Kaiser Nail!" "Shadow Wing!" "Atomic Blaster!" "Giga Destroyer!" "Hand of fate!"

Yui went first, "Starry barrage!"

Haruna was next sending a torrent of leaves and flowers, "Springtime gust!"

Dana threw out her palms, "Northern Tempest!"

Theo raised her left hand, "Flaming javelin!"

Sara motioned with both arms, "Naiad's attack"

Zaira, "Electro beam!"

"Kylie, please, we need you!" Beth called out to her adoptive sister. "Psionic heart!"

"I'll try..." Kylie bit her lip, "Seven crowns!"

Vanessa crossed her arms over her Sampo, and her eyes flower purple. "V-Beams!" And two straight rays of purple energy shot into the rainbow cloud.

Angewomon stretched out her left arm in front of her, while her right hand posed as if ready to let loose an arrow. The feather ornaments on the long arm glove she wore up to her left elbow extended out in the shape of a bow, and a bowstring and arrow made of light appeared, aiming at Myotismon.

"CELESTIAL ARROW!"

"Don't!" Myotismon begged.

"MY SON!" Lady Despair cried out.

Angewomon shot the arrow, which impaled Myotismon right through the heart, causing him to yell out in pain. "KYLIE!"

Kylie wailed, covering her eyes in horror and turning away with a heart wrenching sob. The vampire vanished into particles that exploded in a bright light. Lady Despair reaches out to her son, laying helpless on the floor of the roof.

"Noooo! My child!" Lady Despair sobbed, and with a slam of her hands on the floor, she disappeared in a good explosion of red mist.

"Myotismon disappeared…" Kari said awestruck.

The group cheered. Zaira and Theo exchange high-fives, only the whole building started to shake.

"It's dangerous here! We better run for it!" Sora called out.

Kylie just stood in shock barely registering the movements. Beth had to pull her arm to get her to react, "Kylie, we gotta go!"

The group had to quickly descend to the ground level. The battle at the very top of the globe-shaped observation deck had caused cracks in its structural support, and it could collapse at any moment.

"We defeated Myotismon!" Tai cheered.

"If you work hard at something, you finally succeed. Right?" Joe said.

"Yeah!" Mimi responded.

"Do you think the world will go back to how it was?" Matt wondered.

Beth cleared her throat, making them look her. The teen redhead than pointed to Kylie, who was standing away with Kari and T.K. They seemed to be uneasy about something.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"Look around." T.K. observed anxiously.

"The fog…" Kari pointed up.

"What about it?"

But as they looked up their blood chilled, the fog barrier is still there?

_**To be continued…**_


	27. The Evil King, VenomMyotismon

Tai angrily kicks Myotismon's mask away. "Damn it!"

Kylie actually winced. Even with all that's happened, Myotismon's death weighed deeply on her.

"We defeated Myotismon what more do they want…" growled Matt.

"This can't be!" Mimi worried. "Does that mean we'll be stuck in the fog forever?"

"E-mail." Izzy then spoke up.

Everyone turned to see him on his laptop and gathered around him. "It's from Gennai!"

"Rejoice, children!" A chibi version of Gennai cried on the screen. "I've found a hint to defeating Myotismon!"

The screen showed what looked like an old wall with strange symbols on it.

"These are prophetic inscriptions that I've found in the ancient ruins!  
'First, the sky shall be darkened by the wings of many bats. 'A great multitude of people will chant the name of the Undead Digimon King. When the clock strikes the number of the Beast, the Undead Digimon King will appear revealing himself as the beast. Then the angels will let fly the arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they've been sent to protect, and a miracle will happen.' I wish you luck!"

Kylie was stunned. "But, Myotismon is dead..." she looks at the mask, and then at Vanessa "Isn't he?"

"While I couldn't directly interfere, I watched all your adventures in the digital world, and I saw the final battle against Devimon." The sea witch said to Kylie. "Remember what happened when he was killed?"

Kylie grasped at her throat, remembering the vial of black blood hat shattered on the ground. "There wasn't a vial..."

"You talking about how Myotismon and the others were made from Despair's blood?" Izzy asked.

"Devimon released his that shattered and Etemon... well as you know, he was sucked into a vortex. But yes, I fear that Despair fed more of her blood to Myotismon," Vanessa said. "And that has granted him much vaster powers, and Sierra will surely use her sorcery to use that to bring her son back to life."

"Onii-chan… Let's hurry find Mom and Dad, I'm worried." Kari suggested.

"Yeah."

"I'd like to see what happened to my place, too." Joe said.

"I want to change out of my pajamas." Mimi informed.

Dana tugged at her own pajama sleeve with an exasperated sigh. "Me too. Can't keep running around in my jammies."

"I need to go," Izzy said, running off. His parents were still inside their apartment.

As soon as Izzy went to retrieve his parents, Mimi rejoined them having changed her clothes while the guardians rushed to their homes for their magical equipment- save for Yui and Zaira. Whatever else was going to happen, this time they were going to be prepared. Joe was curious about how his own family was doing and went to his family's apartment. When he returned to the others, he was accompanied by his older brother Shin. Shin, currently a student doctor, had come back home after staying up all night working on his research to take an evening nap. However, ever since the family had moved to Odaiba, his bed for some reason was the top layer of the closet where all of the futons were kept. Because the sliding door was closed while he was sleeping, the Bakemon hadn't noticed him and neither had he noticed them. He had only woken up when Joe had gone home to investigate the rooms.

* * *

Around 11:12 am with no other ideas, the rest reluctantly headed towards Big Sight. Tai and Mimi's parents were there as were the Pantheon girls' parents. After the digimon did away with the straggling Bakemon in the big sight where all the adults or other prisoners were being kept. All were lying straight on their backs in different files.

Both children and six of the guardians started searching for loved ones or familiar faces amongst the sleeping people. Tai and Kari located their parents, as did Mimi and Sora found her mother. The Pantheon girls were disconcerted upon finding their parents and the loyal mansion servants among the prisoners. A shaken Theo spotted her foster mother, while Sara found her twin brother and Uncle.

Worried, they tried to awaken their loved ones but they wouldn't despite the fact that their pulses were steady. It was although they were under a very strong sleeping spell.

Yui sat down by a column, "At least we know our parents are alright."

Haruna and Zaira nodded sadly.

"Where are they?" Tai asked.

Zaira looked at her watch. "Back in Jubaan, and by my estimate... My Dad and stepmother are trying to get to Odaiba like crazy."

"My folks are probably doing the same, knowing my Dad." Yui sighed.

Haruna added. "Mine are out of the country. They went to some conference involving school, I believe it was."

"Yeech. I think I'd rather be stuck here." Tai quipped.

"The pulse is normal. If I had the equipment, I could do a brain MRI for a more in-depth examination…" Joe's oldest brother, Shin, was taking their sleeping father's pulse.

"Joe, listen…" Shin spoke up, looking at Joe who was peering worriedly into their parents' sleeping faces. "You don't have to push yourself to become a doctor."

"Hey, you'd better not be making fun of Joe or you'll be answering to me!" Pukamon cried out, poking his head out from inside Joe's bag.

"I'm not. I'm just saying that a guy like him who faints at the sight of blood might wanna reconsider being a doctor."

"Oh, then I'll have to agree."

Pukamon shifted back inside the bag again. Shin continued talking to Joe.

"You don't need to live your life the way that Dad tells you to."

"Huh? But…"

"After I pass the national exam, I won't be working at Dad's hospital."

"Is that so?"

"I'm planning on going to an isolated island that has no doctor. Dad will probably try to stop me."

"I had no idea."

"You gotta make your own decisions on where you wanna go. No doubt Shuu will do that without me having to tell him, but I figured, with you, I should give you this talk."

Shuu was the second-oldest brother between Shin and Joe. He was currently away for a summer training camp with his high school's track team. Joe didn't know how to answer Shin. Shin clapped Joe on the shoulder, then stood up and looked around. "Anyway, at this rate… We need help from the outside."

"It's my fault they're like this." Kari mumbled, looking over her parents.

"No." Kylie said to her and Gatomon, "If anyone is to blame, it's me. If I hadn't fallen in love with Myotismon... everyone else would be safe and Wizardmon would probably still be with us!"

"Kylie, listen to me." said Gatomon firmly. "Lady Despair is the one to blame. She and Myotismon are the only ones at fault. You had nothing to do with Wizardmon's death!"

Kylie looked down at her hands. She was silent for a full minute before Gatomon spoke again.

"As a sister, you must believe me." said Gatomon. "You must let go of the guilt. There was nothing you could do to stop it. But there is something you can do now. We must save both worlds. I know it's something our..." she sighed softly. "...Mother Sirene would've wanted."

"Don't worry!" Sora reassured. "They're just sleeping. Everyone will wake up soon." Shen then looked at her own sleeping mother. "Right? Mom…"

* * *

Izzy stood facing his parents in a corner of Big Sight's empty main lobby. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

His father, Masami, spoke heavily. "While we were hiding at home, your mother and I had a talk and we decided to tell you the truth. The thing is—"

He knew that this day would one day come.

"We're not your biological parents."

"…I already know."

His mother, Yoshie, wasn't surprised at all. "I knew it…"

Just before they had moved to Odaiba, Izzy had woken up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. His parents' voices could be heard through the thin crack of the open door.

"I decided to pretend that I hadn't heard it. I tried to act as if everything was the same as before… but I just couldn't do it. The more I tried, the weirder it felt… Until in the end, I became obsessed with computers… So that I could escape…"

"It's okay to be obsessed with computers!"

Izzy looked up wonderingly at Masami's sharp voice.

"Is there something wrong about that? No! It's what makes you unique." Masami's gaze changed to a reminiscent one. "Also… It's something that you share with your late father."

"My father…"

Izzy's father, who was a distant relative of Masami Izumi, was a university lecturer and genius mathematician. His wife, Izzy's mother, was an assistant professor, but despite having such a promising future, they died in a car accident almost right after Izzy was born. Around the same time, the boy that had been born to the Izumi couple had died young from illness.  
When asked if they could take Izzy, it was Yoshie who had accepted first.

"To us, you are our son," she said now. "We raised you as if you were our own."

"We were planning to tell you when you were a bit older." Tears appeared in Masami's eyes. "But you already knew… It must have been so hard for you. I'm sorry."

"No. In fact, I'm very grateful that you told me the truth."

As he said this, he realized that it sounded like he was still speaking to a stranger. How did a normal child say thanks to their parents?

"Ah, I mean… T–Thanks…"

Masami smiled at him kindly. "You don't have to change."

Yoshie, too, spoke while wiping away her tears. "Yes. As long as you're happy, that's all we want for you."

As he was listening, Izzy's eyes sprung with tears and he scrunched his face. He flew into Yoshie's arms and began to cry loudly. Yoshie gently folded her arms around him, and Masami quietly embraced the both of them.

Tentomon hid behind one of the lobby's pillars, crying his eyes out. "Izzy… Cry as much as you want. Let them pamper you."

* * *

Back inside, Sora's mother suddenly sat up.

"Sora! Your mom just got up!" Piyomon alerted.

Sora spun around and hurried to her mother, who had begun chanting in a monotonous tone. "Lord Myotismon, Son of Despair… Master of the Digital world!"

"Mom, what is it? Mom!" Sora tried to get through to her mother, but it was as though she were in a trance.

* * *

Outside the rubble of what was once the Fuji TV station, Lady Despair was shown cutting her wrist, and letting her black blood dribble onto Myotismon mask's, watched by some Garthim and Demidevimon.

"Arise, my child. From my blood you were born, and my blood reborn!" Lady Despair falls out.

A red magic circle forms around the mask, and the black blood becomes transparent, like a shadow, and rises up, forming a sorta body behind the mask.

"Mooooother..." A ghostly voice spoke from the mask.

"Yes, my child! I will bring you back, so powerful that not even the angels in Heaven, or the Great Ak Could fell you!" Lady Despair declared.

"Energy, I require energy..." the shadow of Myotismon called out.

Lady Despair dubbed her wrist, healing her wound. "Clearly, he needs more than my blood..."

"Well, those brats felled a lot of our digimon," Demidevimon remanded. "That should be a good start, and then feed the sleeping humans to the master."

"Aaah!" Lady Despair reaches up to pat DemiDevimon happily. "You've made a good suggestion..."

She turns around and summons her scepter, blasting the Garthim, so they exploded, and the pieces transformed into Crystal Bats.

"Go! Go, Crystal Bats! Go with the alpha bats, and gather food for my Son!" Lady Despair commands.

And the swarm of crystal bats flew off into the air, and when they spied a fallen digimon, or even remaining Bakemon, a beam of red lightning shot out of the crystal lens, and sucked them up into the crystal. An innumerable number of the alpha bats flew out from the mask, spreading throughout Odaiba. Not all of the Digimon who had worked for Myotismon were dead. With no one to give them orders, they had hidden in places where the heroes couldn't find them.

The bats attacked them. The Digimon were consumed by the bats in a blink of an eye. The bats returned to the red mask and holding it up into the air. The mask itself also changed in size to about twenty meters. How big would the body be that corresponded to it? The mask rose even higher than the top of the Fuji TV building.

"Just a little longer before Lord Myotismon is restored and takes over this world!" Happily, he flew around the mask.

"And this time, that little snip will have no chance of swaying him no matter how much she pleads."

The first person at Big Sight to notice was Matt and T.K.'s father, Hiroaki, who was having a smoke outside.

Something red was floating above the remaining section of the Fuji TV station. It resembled Myotismon's mask, no matter how he looked at it, but the size of it was what threw him off. First the swarm of bats that were flying away after he and his sons had been attacked by the same Gizamon that captured his own coworkers, now this.

From where he stood, he couldn't see the powers of darkness that collected underneath the mask. The dim darkness gradually became more concentrated, forming a body.

* * *

All the captive people that were placed into a sleeping spell began chanting the exact same thing that Sora's mother called out before. "Lord Myotismon, Son of Despair… Master of the Digital world!"

The children and their Digimon standing by their sleeping parents, greatly disturbed by this turn of events.

"Stop that, Dad!" Tai urged.

"Mom!" Sora cried.

Mimi wailed. "Papa, Mama!"

"Ma, snap out of it!" Theo was right by her adoptive mother.

"Uncle Bernie, it's me!" Sara pleaded. "Tony, can you hear me?"

Kylie covered her ears, the words, the voices, they seemed to pierce right through her.

"Kylie...Kylie!" Dana grabs her. "Kylie, what is it?"

"I feel strange," Kylie whimpered. "Like a dark presence is overwhelming me!"

A purple light revealed the Dark Spectre Queen, who looked around in alarm. "So, it's begun..." She whispered.

"Begun?" Beth gasped, standing up from she was kneeling by her parents. "What's begun?"

"What's going on?" Hiroaki demands.

"It's strange. Physically, they're still asleep, but it's like they're all having the same dream." Joe's brother remarked.

"It's no dream," The Dark Spectre Queen said solemnly. "You feel strange, don't you, Kylie? It's your nymph blood, reacting to an overload of dark magic."

"These sleeping-wakers, they are HER doing," Kylie said in dread. "It's Despair!"

"She has the power to control people in their sleep, and invade dreams," Vanessa said with a nod. "But it's more than that. She's performing a high level dark magic ritual, one that is draining her life-force, it's so powerful. In order to bring a undead of unparalleled strength in this world."

"Um, you know… There's something about this that bothers me." Izzy spoke up, Vanessa's words rang a bell.

"The prophecy, right?" Matt guessed. " 'A great multitude of people will chant the name of the Undead Digimon King..' "

"Yes."

"The part about the bats came true, too!" informed Gabumon.

"What did you say?" Tai questioned.

"Does anyone remember the third part of the prophecy?" Sora asked.

"When the clock strikes the number of the Beast, the Undead Digimon King will appear revealing himself as the beast." Izzy repeated thoughtfully.

"What could be 'the number of the Beast'?" Tai wondered.

"Six-six-six." Matt's father said. "That's the number mentioned at the end of the New Testament."

Tai muttered, "So then they mean six seconds and six minutes past six o'clock." Tai checks his digivice clock - its 6 o'clock. "It's almost time!"

Mr. Ishida urged, "Quick, get in the van!"

By the time Tai and Matt piled into the van with most of the guardians, the mass of darkness that made up the body was visible to the eye. The body shape released a flash of light. Apparently that was the final step, because it materialized perfectly as flesh. As it stretched out its enormous bat-like wings, the gust of wind it created knocked into the Fuji TV building, smashing it entirely to pieces. There was no time to gape in amazement.

When the heroic group got closer to the giant Digimon, they were surprised once again by how huge it was. It was over 30-40 feet tall. He had become a Digimon that was of a completely different dimension from Myotismon. He has Myotismon mask– yet the blond hair had grown to his waist, but everything else is different. The torso and claws were red and black with gigantic demonic wings and pupil less yellow eyes.

"He's ghastly," Beth gasped.

"And he looks super powerful!" Theo remarked.

"It's his true form." Vanessa called out dramatically. "Gone is the handsome visage of gentlemanly behavior, now you behold him, the living manifestation of Lady Despair's black magic blood. He is...The Beast!"

Kylie grabbed her face, horrified beyond belief. "Oh Merciful Lords, and Brothers of Magic, why!?" Kylie sobbed. "Why him, why me..."

Vanessa comes over, wrapping her arms around Kylie, who buried her face in Vanessa's shoulder, sobbing almost hysterical.

"This is him, stripped of all that might have been good, so his mother can ensure he devours EVERYTHING in this dome." Vanessa said, shaking her head sadly. "And once that happens, he will regain his mind, but he will have all of our powers too."

"Even you!?" Izzy gasped in shock.

"Even me..." Vanessa nods in worry, she cups her Sampo in her hand. "And if he gets the Sampo, its unlimited magical power will make him Omnipotent."

"Kyahahaha! Lord VenomMyotismon has returned! You guys will never be able to stop him!" DemiDevimon appeared before them, sneering. "Being undead means he possesses invulnerability!"

VenomMyotismon then spoke for the first time. His voice was similar to before but deeper with a growling undertone. "Power…I need more power…what I have is not enough."

"If you want to feed, your prey is waiting for you at the Big Sight. Come along, sir, I will lead you there." DemiDevimon flew up to VenomMyotismon.

The monster grinned, "You will be my appetizer." He breathed in, mouth open wide.

DemiDevimon was sucked into his mouth as he flapped noisily to get away. "Wh-What are you doing, sir?! No! AHHHHHH!" It was over for him all too soon.

They all cringed.

"Whoa, that's not cool!" Theo grimaced.

VenomMyotismon took one step forward on a beastly leg that was covered in bristles. The earth sunk beneath his foot, shaking as though from an earthquake.

"Such a shame, he was a useful and loyal minion," A voice spoke.

Everyone spun around to see Lady Despair, sitting on a cloud of crystal bats.

"But to make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs!" Lady Despair whips out her scepter, the eyes flashed and blasted into the group.

Vanessa barely erected a shield, but everyone was still sent flying.

"I don't understand, he's data, how was she able to revive him?" Izzy asked the sea witch.

"You can thank the arcane blood of Despair," Vanessa said struggling to hold up the shield. "She's made VenomMyotismon into a living manifestation of black magic Itself, so while his data body was destroyed, his black magic blood core was still safe to be revived."

"But DemiDevimon didn't come back," T.K. points out.

"Aside from the fact that we're on Earth not the Digiworld… Angemon gave up his energy to destroy Devimon, an angel making a selfless sacrifice for love of friends? Not even Despair could withstand it, plus Kylie and the others purified the black blood when it revealed itself."

"He's headed towards the people at Big Sight!" Mr. Ishida warned about VenomMyotismon.

Was it true what DemiDevimon had said, that the humans were all fodder? Was VenomMyotismon heading for the sleeping humans at Big Sight?

"Our parents!" Theo gasped, knowing what it meant.

"We won't let him near them!" Tai steeled himself.

"Garurumon!" Matt yelled.

"I know, Matt!"

"Let's go!" Greymon roared.

After digivolving, the Perfect level Digimon began their attack. MetalGreymon's organic missiles exploded violently, while Theo's flames knocked into it. WereGarurumon leaped, using VenomMyotismon's body to climb up all the way up to his masked face. From point-blank range, he used his Moonsault Kick, its vacuum wave cutting into VenomMyotismon's forehead. But dozens of tentacles shot out from the open wound, tangling around WereGarurumon and flinging him aside.

Kylie snapped out of it, and unleashed a magical attack at Despair, blasting through the spikes, and hitting the Sorceress. But she spun her scepter in a loop, and created a wind vortex that struck Kylie and sent her flying.

"Kylie!" Beth flew over to catch her.

"And now for you both!" Lady Despair aimed her scepter and tired a powerful magical blast.

"Arctic Armor!"

And immediately a large suit of ice armor took the blast, and thou scorched it didn't melt, and slammed its fist at Despair who dodged. Vanessa was the one who conjured it.

"Someone get Angemon and Angewomon over here," Vanessa shouts. "She's weak against holy magic, and her neck is the one vulnerable spot for other attacks."

"Squealer!" Lady Despair snapped, and waved her hands to send a swarm of fire bats to rush down at Vanessa.

Vanessa spun on her one seagull foot, and a pillar of water erupted to extinguish the fire bats.

"Ahh!" Lady Despair raises her hands, as she was hit and soaked to the bone. "What was that supposed to do!?"

"Well, it worked for Dorothy." Vanessa snickered.

MetalGreymon launched another Giga Destroyer. The attack hit VenomMyotismon in the head and he fell over backwards.

"Did they get him?" Tai asked.

"Food… Food!" VenomMyotismon got back up.

Indescribable! Even with two perfects it wasn't enough. WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon urged them to warn the others at the Big Sight convention.

* * *

"We've got trouble!" Tai yelled the moment he and the rest arrived.

They stepped outside to see VenomMyotismon approaching. One shambling step at a time.

"Can't we chance moving everyone to some other place?"

"We won't make it." Shin, Joe's older brother, said begrudgingly. "There are too many people."

"We have no other choice but to defeat VenomMyotismon." Gatomon said grimly.

"I'll help you!" Patamon offered.

All the other digimon cried agreements but Gatomon shook her head.

"All of you stay here. Only Patamon needs to come with me. You need to store up energy for your next evolution."

"It's kinda sad, but Gatomon's right." Piyomon agreed. "Let's listen to her, everyone."

Mimi asked. "Why is it that when everyone evolved into Perfect, Palmon and the others became Baby-Levels yet you turned back into your Adult form?"

"We were trained in a different manner. Let's go, Patamon."

"Yeah!"

"Don't forget about us!" Yui cried.

She and the other guardians transformed at the same time that the two digimon digivolved. Mr. Ishida was driving, Izzy and his foster parents, along with T.K. and Kari followed them in the van.

"They transformed into angels this time." Mrs. Izumi commented. "And those girls turned into fairies!"

"The first two didn't transform like the guardians, they digivolved." Tentomon explained.

"What is all of this Adult-Level, Perfect-Level stuff?" Mr. Izumi asked.

"They indicate the evolution level of the Digimon. The lowest level is Baby, and from there they level up sequentially."

Izzy quickly filled his adoptive parents in about the digimon, the guardians, their powers and what their connection was to Vanessa.

VenomMyotismon walked slowly, sometimes unleashing colorful indescribable light from the eye slits near his lower abdomen. It looked like chunks that carried viscosity, and the two buildings around him that the light touched, even a little bit, corroded and crumbled.

"Wh-What destructive power!" Mr. Ishida shouted.

VenomMyotismon flourished his arms and Garudamon and MetalGreymon were swept away by a single swing. As they tumbled to the ground, they changed back into Agumon and Gabumon. They had used up all of their energy.

"I'll crush you!" VenomMyotismon attempted to crush them under his right foot.

"Holy Arrow!"  
"Heaven's Knuckle!"

The two angels kept saved Agumon and Gabumon but the angelic attacks had little effects.

"This evil power is uncontrollable!" Angemon analyzed.

"We will destroy you once more!" called out Angewomon.

"You think you can destroy me again?!" The undead monster taunted.

"Stop!" Kylie screamed and flew in front of VenomMyotismon.

"Kylie, get out of there!" Sara G called out in fear, "It's not the same – er, digimon you fell in love with!"

"What?!" Mr. Ishida and Izzy's adoptive parents were bewildered.

Beth mumbled behind her hand to them, "We'll explain later."

"Please, Myotismon, Don't hurt anymore people," Kylie begged. "Why couldn't you be satisfied with my love? We could've moved far away and been happy."

Vanessa, Beth, Theo and the others looked up in surprise.

"I would've done that, but not what you were doing to Kari." Kylie makes a pleading motion. "Please, just stop this and we can go away."

"Kylie, I'm afraid..." VenomMyotismon suddenly caught her in his hand, crushing her in his grasp. "I have no more feelings for you!"

"Aaaaah!" Kylie screamed in pain.

"Kylie!" Everyone yelled.

"Foolish, Girl!" Lady Despair called up with a laugh. "You think I didn't plan for your simpering begging? I removed that part of my son that felt for you, and hid it away!"

Vanessa growled. "Sacred Jewels!" Golden balls of twinkling light that struck Sierra head on.

"Auuugh!" Lady Despair cried out in pain.

"RELEASE HER!"

The Dark Spectre Queen clapped her hands together, and immediately, an inky cloud seemed to form from beneath herself, as loud growling was heard as a massive monstrosity appeared. It had a huge head, and no limbs, aside from black too dripping tentacles, it clamped it's huge mouth onto VenomMyotismon arm, causing the beast to roar and drop Kylie.

Beth and Theo caught her, as the creature summoned by Vanessa wrapped its tentacles around VenomMyotismon, black goo posing off it to immobilize the Undead King.

Vanessa lamented wearily. "I did warn her, regrettably he's more beast than digimon now." It certainly looks as though this love story is foredoomed to remain star-crossed.

"Kylie!" Angewomon flew down to examine her 'sister'. "Is she alright?"

"She's hurt badly," Mrs. Izumi had run over to examine Kylie. "I think her ribs might be broken."

"Use your Heavens Charm," Angewomon." Vanessa called out, floating over towards them. "It will heal her, I must focus my magic on my Summon."

Angewomon clapped her hands over Kylie, causing a shower of rainbow sparkles to cover her form to heal herself.

"Will that thing destroy VenomMyotismon?" T.K. asked the Dark Spectre Queen.

"Hardly, it's just to keep him still, but his struggles while tiring him out will make my magic levels drop." She looks at the kids. "You seriously better start thinking of something, and soon."

"Look out!" Matt yells.

Angemon quickly dives in front of Dark Spectre Queen, blocking a crimson exploding skull shot by Despair.

"You won't stop me, or my child! I had one son kill that Nymph," Lady Despair seethes. "And I'll be damned if I let you fool my other from killing her daughter!"

"You are damned already," Vanessa huffed. "Thousands of years before Kylie was ever even born."

Vanessa crossed her arms over her chest, and a bright light flashes from her Sampo, temporarily blinding Despair as Vanessa flew into the Sorceress, the two going far away from the group, grappling, hands trying to force the other back, kicking and hair pulling.

"Oh yeah?" Theo challenged, "And what do think he's going do - when he does finish the job and figure out he's destroyed her too?!"

"Yeah, he'll either literally tear out his own heart from the grief or take the clichéd 'If I have to suffer then the whole world will suffer with me' routine." Zaira added coldly.

"If I get my hands on a pensieve, he won't tell her apart from a mannequin!" Lady Despair snapped.

"THAT DOES IT!" Angewomon snapped, and immediately shot an arrow at Despair.

She dodged out of the way, only to be rammed into by Vanessa, who conjured a large ice ram.

"Aghh!" Lady Despair goes flying, and hits a lamp post, bending it.

Tai and Matt ran to their digimon.

"I'm sorry, Tai… We're not strong enough…"Agumon apologized.

"Is that beast also a Perfect-Level?" Mr. Izumi asked Izzy.

"I'll look it up. VenomMyotismon. A Mega Level evolved from Myotismon. He has lost both his intelligence and sense of reason. He's in Mega level?!"

"There's an evolution level that's above Perfect?!" questioned Matt.

"Well Charmix and Digix attacks didn't do the trick either..." Dana worried. "So then one or two of us need to reach Enchantix level!"

"What does the prophecy say next?" Mr. Ishida questioned

"'the angels will let fly the arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they've been sent to protect, and a miracle will happen.' Angels…" Izzy recalled the last part of the prophecy. "Angemon and Angewomon. They're the angels."

"Then who are the people they protect?" Mr. Izumi inquired.

They quickly theorized that it's referring to Tai and Izzy, their siblings.

"But why would they shoot arrows at the people they love?" questioned Izzy.

"Angels… They're angels…" Mrs. Izumi explained. "In Roman mythology, Cupid shot arrows at people to fill them with love."

"Arrows that fill people with love?"

"You're going to need a lot more than that!" Vanessa called, "Prophets don't know everything!"

"Well, what do you suggest?" Matt asked.

"I'm not saying it's wrong, but perhaps I should be allowed to enchant you two, so the arrows won't harm you both," Vanessa turns to Kylie and Beth. "And since we're 'filling' loved ones with magical energy, I had a thought."

"Uh-oh..." Beth jokes as Vanessa looks at her.

"It's alright, I've come up with an idea," Vanessa gestured to her monster fighting the Undead Digimon King. "If Sierra's blood can do this, imagine what mine could do? I use it to super charge potions, and to acquire an Enchantix, you need a super charge of magic. Who's to say it can't be an outside source, MY source of magic?"

"Using the blood of a Demi-goddess and immortal Sorceress?!" Mrs. Izumi gasped. "But you constantly tap into the limitless magic of the Sampo, it could overwhelm the girls."

"Not if it was only ten drops," Vanessa promises. "And they be immediately siphoning off that powerful magic to aid in Venomyotismon destruction."

"You better make a decision quick," Tai shouts. "VenomMyotismon is breaking free of your sea monster, and I think Sierra is getting her bearings again!"

"It's a super powerful catalyst, it'll either awaken your powers, or you'll blow up the Earth ten times." Vanessa said.

"It's a chance we'll gladly take." Kylie said taking a deep breath.

"So what should we...?" Beth questioned.

Vanessa pinches Beth nose with her one hand, the fairy flails, as Vanessa holds her black scaly hand over Beth mouth, and stabs her middle fingertip with her sharp talon thumb of the same hand, and drops of bright green blood drips into Beth mouth.

"I hate to treat you like a kid, but quick is best," Vanessa said pulling away from Beth. "Who's next?"

As she asked, Beth's body crackled with power and energy.

Vanessa tilts Kylie's head back with one hand, and digs her thumb into the palm of the hand she holds over Kylie's mouth, and ten sparkling, bright green drops of blood drip into Kylie's mouth.

Naturally, the two younger children protested at the suggestion of their older siblings' request to have the angel digimon shoot an arrow at them but they were insistent especially after reassuring them of the enchantment Vanessa had just placed. Either way, they needed to believe it's what must be done.

"Plus, you'll be getting to two fairies on the third level Enchantix to help make things right!" Dana added. "A little faith and trust can go a long, long way!"

T.K. and Kari pulled out their crests.

"OK, I'll give your my light!"

"And my hope!"

Their crests shot out bright lights towards the angels, giving them arrows.

"Shoot those arrows at our brothers!" T.K. ordered. "Let's believe in miracles!"

"Let's believe…" Angemon said soberly.

Angewomon nodded. "In miracles."

Gabumon and Agumon called out to their respective partners.

"Matt, don't you dare!"

"Tai, don't risk yourself!"

"Risking myself is part of my job description, remember?" Tai reminded Agumon.

"Now let us handle this." Matt said to them in reassurance then he looked to Tai. "You scared?"

"No way!" Tai then added. "…but that would be a big fat lie."

"Actually… so am I." He then grabbed Tai's hand. "Hold on tight so I don't run away."

"That goes the same for me."

And their crests began to shine brightly.

"The Prophecy! NOO!"

Lady Despair had seen the spear of hope aimed at Matt, while the arrow of light aimed at Tai. She waves her scepter into the air, and out of the ground shoots rock hands, which clamp the two angels in their grip.

"NO!" Kylie screamed in shock.

"The Woods are empty, the house is haunted, you are now enchanted! Evil Spirits of the Earth, forbid these fairies, children and Digimon from moving!"

And at those words from Lady Despair, the ground glowed a bright red, and the various heroes were unable to move.

"I can't move a finger!" Zaira gasped in horror.

"This is serious black magic, guys!" Theo cried out.

"No! Matt, Tai!" Beth cried out as Lady Despair moves towards the two.

"Such a shame, such strapping lads." Lady Despair mocks, as she traces a finger under each of their chins. "If I had you before your school trip, I could've taken you away for corruption to become my Black Order Knights...Ah well."

Lady Despair's eyes glow bright red, as she floats away, grinning as she aims her scepter, which pulsated with pink and black energy. "And now, I condemn you to the void! Oh Ancient Spirits, hear my words, if you have pity on these mortals. Answer their prayers now, or forever hold your peace. REAPER RAGE!"

She fires a pink grim reaper phantom which charges at Matt and Tai, only to hit an invisible wall, which rippled as the spell was negated.

"WHAT!?" Lady Despair cried out with rage.

Suddenly, from the river a massive glittering wave washed over the ground, the hands melted, Angemon and Angewomon freed, they fired their attacks at Sierra, who barely dodged as the others were freed from the enchantment holding them prisoners.

And The Dark Spectre Queen appeared, her eyes glowing purple with magic.

"Wretched Hag, you've used your magic for Evil long enough," Vanessa called out, waving her hands to create glowing purple energy balls. "The Prophecy will be fulfilled! In the Name of Nemesis, bind this wicked witch!"

The orbs go flying, and turn into balls and chains, which manacle on Sierra, sending her flying, as she shrieked with fury.

"NOW, CHILDREN!" Vanessa cries out to Angemon and Angewomon. "YOUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT!"

The angel Digimon did not hesitate. The two holy powers passed through Tai and Matt without harming them and their digivices released a new light.

Meanwhile, the power boost from Vanessa's blood began to take effect in Beth and Kylie. In the very center of Beth's chest, a soft hot pink glow began accompanied by a thump, like the sound of a heartbeat. And with each beat, the pink glow grew brighter and brighter until she's enveloped in it.

In Kylie's case, she began to shine a gentle sparkling blue color.

When the bright lights had died down, the two girls had undergone their new transformation. On their backs were big colorful wings. They wore intricate robes (of distinctive colors) and on their arms were with long sparkling gloves that almost reach their shoulders and barefoot sandals that reached their calves.

At the same time, the new magical energy poured into Agumon and Gabumon.

"Agumon warp-evolve! WarGreymon!"

"Gabumon warp-evolve! MetalGarurumon!"

Agumon had digivolved into a warrior Digimon that wore armor all over his body, while Gabumon digivolved into a mechanical wolf Digimon.

Now they were ready to fight VenomMyotismon.

**_To be continued…_**


	28. Four different changes!

_6:43_ pm

At first glance, WarGreymon was way smaller than MetalGreymon, who was over two meters at best. Even MetalGarurumon wasn't any bigger than a large dog. However, their fighting strength was beyond extraordinary.

WarGreymon leapt, easily flying without wings. Beth and Kylie put their new Enchantix wings to use, flying up after him.

He surrounded himself in great ball of orange energy, ramming right in VenomMyotismon's chest. This caused the latter to be pushed back by quite a distance.

All the others had gotten back into the van to try to catch up.

"Go, WarGreymon!" Tai yelled.

"You're so strong!" Kari said.

"Now, it's our turn..." Beth flies up and her body glows brightly. "_Slayer, Slayer! Oh Lighting of Balmor's Dark Mists! Balvolt! Thunderous Blast!_"

Beth holds out her palms at the frozen Myotismon, and fires a massive blast of lightning, which strikes hard, shattering the ice and sending him flailing backwards.

"_Prince of the Realm of Asgard, Mighty Thor fulfill the pact of ancient days...Raging Billows! Thunder Riot!_" Beth chants, and raises her hands upwards, and multiple arcs of lightning shoot forth, striking at VenomMyotismon rapidly.

"NO! MY SON!" Lady Despair tries to fly up, but Vanessa grabs her by the hair. "AHH!"

Vanessa spins on her seagull foot, and hurls Sierra into a pile of rubble. "I'd say it's time we became better acquainted."

"SQUID SUCKING, SEA HAG!" Sierra bellows. "HELLSFIRE FROM THE PRIMORDIAL PIT, INFLAME AND SCORCH!"

Sierra holds out her scepter, and the skull opens its mouth to breathe fire, but Vanessa teleports away.

Multiple panels on MetalGarurumon's body opened up to reveal a massive arsenal of cryo-weapons and he fired several missiles at once. They impacted with VenomMyotismon and completely engulfed him in ice. However it didn't last long, as the creature began to shake off the effects. First it was the left arm that broke free before the rest of him followed much to everyone's shock.

"You'll pay for that!" roared VenomMyotismon. His eyes suddenly began to glow. "Venom Infuse!" Beams shot out so the two mega digimon and Enchantix fairies dodged. Now he was just attacking all around him in an attempt to hit one of them. One of the beams hit one of the fallen buildings right in front of the van's path. Mr. Ishida was able to avoid it only for the sudden swerve to cause the van to tip right over. The driver and passengers got out with Mr. Ishida carrying Mr. Izumi.

The resulting smoke and debris that was thrown up had them ending up getting separated from each other. And the rest of the chosen children and their digimon joined the battlefield.

Neither the waves from Kabuterimon's arms nor the Togemon's fists made a scratch on him. Not even the holy powers from Angemon's fist and Angewomon's arrows of light made a dent. The Digimon fought desperately. Pukamon evolved to Gomamon and then Ikkakumon, shooting missiles from his horn in succession. However, the attacks of an Adult level had no effect on him.

But it wasn't just the digimon and Fairies against VenomMyotismon, Lady Despair and the Dark Spectre Queen were going at it hard too. Out of nowhere, a blast of crimson energy nearly hit MetalGarurumon as Lady Despair was aiming her scepter up at the digimon.

"OH NO, YOU DON'T! I WON'T LET YOU-AHHH!" Lady Despair screamed as Vanessa grabbed her hair, and flung her into the hard ground.

"YOU JUST LET THEM SETTLE THIS!" Vanessa snapped, and floats down to where Sierra landed face first into the ground.

"It's about time you and I had our little confrontation," Vanessa stated. "For if the laws weren't set, I would've easily saved Sirene's life, so for now I'll fight you to avenge her!"

Lady Despair pushed herself upright hissing at the Sea Witch. "Dagon feast on your heart," Lady Despair hissed. "You will not stop me old hag!"

'**Deadly screech!**' Lady Despair points her scepter and fires the spell at the Sea Witch, who crossed her scaly arms, and disappeared, only to appear in different spot.

"**Diamond Blades!**' Vanessa waves her hands, and giant saw blades of diamond shoot out.

Lady Despair screams when she stands, barely deflecting two blades, but getting struck with two that exploded in sparks on her near invulnerable body.

'**Serpents of the Underground, bind her well!'**

Immediately, underground wires and cables burst out of the ground, and wrap around Vanessa, who struggles in their grasp.

'**Viridian Bisection!**' Lady Despair shouts, and dark purple prongs of energy blades shoot out of her scepter's mouth.

To her shock, Keller, Vanessa's silver handmaiden jumps in the path and turns into a silver shield. The spell hits and falls to the ground harmlessly.

"What the!?" Lady Despair fumed.

Mira the gold handmaiden appears, and with a slice of her short dagger, slices Vanessa free.

"I'm afraid you're hard pressed here, Sierra. There's no allies other than your son," The Dark Spectre Queen points a talon at VenomMyotismon. "And he's preoccupied!"

'**Typhoon Boom!**' Vanessa points her finger in a dropping motion at Sierra, causing a massive twister of water and electricity to hit her hard.

Sierra stumbles, but her shadow lengthens, and two large hands shoot out to grab Vanessa by the throat, and bring her close enough for Lady Despair to hit her repeatedly with her scepter.

'**Nega-Hit!**' Lady Despair chants, and her scepter glows with blueish energy, hitting Vanessa hard.

The sea witch pulled away, her Sampo glowing bright red as it filled her up with the magic stolen by Lady Despair's 'Nega-hit'.

"And now, to end this. '**BLACK CHAOS ATTACK!**" Lady Despair twirls her scepter in the air, and hits the ground with the skull top, and creates a massive ball of black magic, which shoots towards The Dark Spectre Queen.

But Mira had jumped in front of her mistress, and transformed into a gold frame, full length mirror. The ball of chaos magic was sucked into the mirror's surface, and suddenly it shot out of a portal, striking VenomMyotismon in the eye, blinding the giant.

"Raaaagh! Mother!" VenomMyotismon cried out in pain.

"NO! My Poor baby!" Lady Despair gasped in horror at her indirect attack on her son.

"Now, '**Black Widow Calamity Cobweb!'** Vanessa chants, and from her finger tips a web of violet energy shoots out and catches Sierra in a spider-'s web.

"AH! NO!" Sierra screamed as she dropped her scepter.

"'**Swords Of Revealing Light!**' Vanessa raised her arms to the sky, and swords made of golden light shoot down to encircle Lady Despair. The Sorceress freezes, ceasing her struggling to get free of the web, and her eyes wide in shock.

"Yes, the most powerful of binding spells for Evil," Vanessa brags as her handmaidens come to her side in human form. "It'll keep you unable to move for three minutes, but that's more than enough time for your foul child to be done!"

Meanwhile, Angemon had flown at VenomMyotismon, only to be swatted to the side by the Beast, sending him hurtling into a flat rock.

"NO!" Dana cried out in dismay, and tries to fly over to Angemon.

"Dana, look out!" Kylie called out, too late.

"_Crimson Mist!_" Lady Despair shouts, and points her scepter to fire the acidic gas at the fairy.

"Dana!" Angemon becomes alert, and flies up, crashing into her, cradling her close as he gets them out of the path of the mist.

"_Cherubic-Cyclone!_" Kylie called out.

And a cyclone of white feathers blasts out, and strikes the mist, dispersing it, as Lady Despair fumes.

"SON, GET THAT NYMPH BRAT!" Lady Despair screams.

"NOT HER!" Vanessa hissed. "You may have gotten away with her mother's death, but as long as she's on this planet. YOU! WILL! NOT! TOUCH HER!"

Kylie barely dodges a swipe from the giant beast, who howls at the fairy in rage and mindless ruthlessness.

"_Oh Briares, hundred handed guardian of the throne of Zeus! To thee I implore, lend hands to crush this evil!'_" Kylie chants.

And immediately, a hundred stone hands burst out of the ground, some attacking Despair, and others grabbing at VenomMyotismon's wings to hold him in place.

Angewomon is hit and almost crushed by the rubble from Vanessa's fight with Despair, Kylie flies to the angelic digimon's side, and pulling her loose to heal her.

"Angewomon! Little Sister, please, be alright!" Kylie wept.

Her tears glowed bright white, and one fell on Angewomon, her body glows, before she breathes in relief.

"Uhhh...you, called me 'Lil Sister.'" Angewomon said with a smile.

"That's what we are..." Kylie wipes at her eyes, then pulls the angel into her arms for a hug.

The two enjoy the hug, until Angewomon abruptly flies them upwards.

"LOOK OUT!" Angewomon cries out.

They nearly dodged a powerful blast from Lady Despair, who aims her scepter at them.

'_Song of the Seraphim_" Kylie chants, and belts out a shrieking cry that causes Sierra to stagger.

"Ahhh! Accursed Brat!" Lady Despair shrieks covering her ears.

"STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"

Vanessa shouts, and shoots out a vine of sticky ink, which wraps around Despair's hand holding her scepter, and pulls her away from the duo, slamming a giant, purple, glowing fist into Sierra's gut.

WarGreymon joined his arm gauntlets together over his head so that his long nails aligned against each other. He twirled like a tornado, plunging into the furry lower area on VenomMyotismon's body. The inside was ripped viciously to shreds. But perhaps WarGreymon's size didn't bring enough damage to VenomMyotismon's 200 meter height because he still struggled stubbornly.

He was roaring and grunting fell down to one knee from being hit by all of them. , before an indigo face with ferocious blue eyes showed up right where Wargreymon had torn through. Mimi screamed out in disgust.

"Wh-What is that?!" Tai gaped.

The face screeched shooting out black energy from it's mouth that blew away most of the digimon and the fairies.

"I will devour all of you!" VenomMyotismon growled.

The eight children and guardians were around him, having unknowingly into two groups that surrounded him from all sides.  
Abruptly, all eight digivices let loose rays of light that matched the color of their crests. The lights extended until they gathered at one point above VenomMyotismon's head, forming long binds. Tai and Matt's held his arms, Sora, Joe, Mimi and Izzy's held his legs while TK and Kari's wrapped around his neck.

VenomMyotismon squirmed, but he couldn't move forward since the crests held him in place. The hideous facial creature in his abdomen snarled out. "How dare you! All you Chosen children and your allies are miserable wretches!"

"That thing talked!" Tai yelped.

"That is his core!" Vanessa cried out. "It is the collection of Lady Despair's blood! KYLIE! NOW! You, Beth, and the other two, you must focus your powers to destroy it," The Dark Spectre Queen called out. "Or he'll be restored no matter what you do to his body."

"I get it! That monster must be VenomMyotismon's true form!" Tai understood. "WarGreymon!"

"Gotcha!"

MetalGarurumon shoved the round observation dome of the destroyed Fuji TV as if it were a soccer ball towards Wargreymon.

"Great pass!" Sora yelled.

"SHOOT!" All eight children hollered.

WarGreymon kicked the dome hard, sending it right into the monstrous abdomen face.

"Seelie call!" Beth shot out a blast of pink and lilac energy in the shape of a large butterfly.

"Winter's grip!" Kylie crossed both wrists together before opening them, releasing a strong freezing wind with sharp ice shards.

The monster roared at Kylie, but it was the face in the abdomen that spoke in disbelief. "Kylie, you blasted me!"

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do this!" Kylie was shaking her head.

VenomMyotismon could not move. That was what those attacks had been for, to keep him immobile.

WarGreymon began to create a ball of fire in both hands. It looked like a small Sun as he raised it high above his head. Its diameter went over ten meters. "Gaia Force!" He threw the ball of fire straight into the wide open mouth of VenomMyotismon's body.

"Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon shot a blast of cold air from his mouth.

It instantly froze VenomMyotismon's entire body. It exploded on the inside. He then began to break off into chunks. The final piece was the head, and the eyes briefly lit up in recognition towards Sirene's child. The pieces scattered into particles before they hit the ground.

"We did it!"  
"We beat VenomMyotismon!"

The children and their Digimon ran to each other, rejoicing. Kylie remained silent until Mimi noticed a new digimon. "Huh? Who are you?"

Curious, they all looked over to see a small creamy puppy-like digimon with sky blue eyes and a gold collar.

"I'm Salamon. Nice to meet you." she said.

"You must've become Child level form now because you used up all of your energy to help Agumon and reach Mega level." Kari guessed correctly, patting her digimon's head with a somber Kylie.

"Hey, look at that!" Sora pointed upwards. "The fog is finally disappearing!"

The sky started to clear as if the fog barrier had never existed in the first place. They watched with bated breath only for their adrenaline levels to spike when they heard Lady Despair's voice taunting them.

"You think you've all come so far? But I have a lot of children," Lady Despair fumed. "And while you've been playing here, trying so hard to save your beloved eighth child. YOU'VE LOST YOUR PRECIOUS DIGITAL WORLD!"

Everyone looks up and gasped in shock and horror.

"No way!" T.K. gaped.

"Th-This can't be…!" Joe whined.

"No." Kylie whispered, feeling as though her stomach were full of lead.

Something unfamiliar floated in the expanse of the night sky. From one end of the horizon to the other, several strips could be seen that showed earth, cities, and ocean. They appeared upside-down across the night sky, shimmering like a mirage. Only they knew that it was no illusion. What they saw wasn't a place from Earth. It was, without a doubt, the Digital World.

"My Darling Boys, the Dark Masters have taken over the digital world, just as I commanded them to and if you return to that world, they will take my revenge and eliminate you."

Lady Despair gestured at Kylie with a vicious sheer. "Poor Kylie, you lost your mother, lost your love, and now you've failed to save the world she loved for millennium!" Lady Despair laughed as various Aurors dashed at her, but a black tornados engulfed her body.

Everyone jumps back as the wind nearly knocks them flat on their backs.

"**DOOMED! THE DIGITAL WORLD IS DOOMED!**"

The voice of lady Despair laughed maniacally, as the twister around her body shot up into the sky, transporting her to the digital world. The strips of different lands in the sky had appeared one after the other. It was also happening throughout the entire world at the same time. None of it could be registered by radar or satellite leaving experts at a loss.

In the meantime, all the victims at the Big Sight convention center had awakened from the sleep trance while the waterbuses were arriving to Odaiba, on it was Matt and T.K.'s mother along with Yui and Zaira's equally worried families. Once it docked, they rushed towards the epicenter of the battle, looking for their loved ones.

"Hey, there's my parents!" Yui noticed.

"Zaira!"

The semigoth turned to see her father, stepmother and young stepbrother hurrying to her. After hugging one another with relief her father than demanded she didn't call.

"The fog took out most the electronic equipment." Zaira explained.

"T.K! T.K.!"

Little T.K. spun around to see his mother. "Mama!"

"T.K.!" Ms. Takaishi ran to hug her youngest son. "Thank goodness you're safe! I was so worried! You must've been so frightened."

"No, I was with my brother." T.K. replied brightly.

Ms. Takaishi looked over to see her firstborn son. "Matt."

"Mom…" Matt kept his emotions in check, despite not seeing is mother for quite some time.

T.K. was so happy that his entire family of four had come together. "It's been a long time since the entire family got together, isn't it, Onii-chan?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Matt felt even more bummed out. Mr. Ishida and Ms. Takaishi honestly couldn't celebrate as he did.

* * *

The strips increased in size as time went on, and it could easily be seen that they were slowly lowering altitude.  
The US Armed Forces aircraft that approached it for investigation became inoperable and went out of control when they got close. Parts on the aircraft that came into contact with it were crystallized.

At this rate, if nothing was done, it would only be a matter of time before the entire world became crystallized.  
No attacks that were fired into it had any effect, but a strange one-sided phenomenon occurred. Creatures that were seen from within the strips came down to Earth.  
They were Digimon, of course, but no one knew that. Compared to this worldwide panic that the entire world was going through, the fog incident that happened in Odaiba was only a local occurrence, so it wasn't treated with that much importance.

As the group worried about this recent turn of events, a motorcycle scooter came driving towards them. It was Joe's brother, Shin.

"Everyone back at Big Sight are alright! They're already awake!" He informed much to everyone's relief.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Haruna said with relief.

"That's great!" Kari cheered.

Shin then pulled out a portable TV Sony Watchman FD-285 adjusting it so they could listen to the news.

"What you're seeing is no illusion!" said the emergency broadcaster. "No one knows what could have happened to cause this! But all of us are wondering if those spooky continents that no one has ever seen before, will permanently take the place of our blue skies all throughout the world!"

"Wh-What in the world is going on?" Joe questioned.

"Is this a part of Myotismon's plot, too?" asked Matt.

"That can't be!" Tsunomon piped up. "We made sure to finish off that villain this time!"

"Yeah, no doubt about that!" added Koromon.

"Then what are they?" Tai asked.

"Despair mentioned something about her boys having taken over the Digiworld in our absence, you think this is what she meant?" Beth wondered.

Just then Izzy noticed something. '_That mountain… It's identical to Infinity Mountain! But that can't be…'_ he thought.

"Tai!" alerted Izzy. "Could you use your mini-telescope to look over there?"

Tai pulled out his telescope. "Where?"

"Look, that mountain over there."

"Which one? There are so many mountains, I don't know which one you're talking about!"

"That one over there!"

"… Which is it? Ahh!"

"What's the matter?"

"A plane! I just saw it!"

* * *

The passenger plane, Flight 117, heading from London to Narita, was in flight when the tip of its main wing touched the strip and crystallized. The plane began to nosedive, unable to be controlled. Chikara Hida was on that plane, having gone to London to bring home the remains of his son who had died there. As passengers screamed and items flew about, he prayed fervently that at least his daughter-in-law and grandson, who was still too young to attend elementary school yet, would be saved.  
The plane suddenly up-righted itself. He thought his prayers had been answered and that a miracle had happened.  
They landed safely and gently on Tokyo Bay, as if the plane had suddenly sprouted wings.  
Chikara took the helm, guiding the other passengers towards evacuation onto the water surface, sliding down himself after everyone else had left. While he was occupied, his grandson Cody witnessed strange creatures flying away into the night sky. It was a birdman, about twenty meters big, and a red rhinoceros beetle that was just as big.  
It would be a couple of years later before Cody found out that they were actually two Digimon named Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon, and that they had been the ones who had held up the crashing airplane so that it could land safely on water.

* * *

After Motimon and Pyokomon returned from their little rescue mission, the group confirmed that what they were seeing up in the sky was the Digiworld and that several digimon were appearing all over Earth in plain sight.

"We can't touch those Digimon." Pyokomon said in concern. "If we do, we'll solidify like that airplane wing!"

"My Mega Blaster had no effect either!" Motimon informed.

"What the hell is going on?!" Tai grunted.

"My money is on Lady Despair's and any remaining offspring of hers." Theo speculated darkly.

"Kylie, Salamon is that the place you were born?" Kari was pointing to the sky.

Salamon shook her head. "No, that's no longer the place we used to live in."

"It doesn't look remotely like the Digiworld I remember." Kylie agreed.

Izzy looked up at the scenery above them and spoke. "They're right. It's been three days since we've come here… Which means several years must have passed in the Digimon world."

"We came here without fixing the distortions in the Digimon world, everything's pretty much a disaster." Koromon said glancing upwards.

"And that must have ended up affecting our world, as well." Sora pondered as she and the other kids looked up.

Zaira looked up as well. "We're the only ones who can do something about it."

"Besides, we need to hurry." Yui looked around. "Things that happened to that airplane are happening around the world. Our electronics are out of whack and, with Digimon showing up, even more trouble might come up."

Everyone could see all of that already without having it be put into words. Right now, they were checking to see that everyone was feeling the same way.

"The hospitals are in trouble. There may be people in the middle of surgery right now." Zaira said grimly, looking more rigid than usual.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going back to the Digiworld somehow!" Beth declared.

"Then let's go see!" Tai stepped forward. "Let's go back to the Digimon world!"

The children looked back at him with serious faces.

"But how do we do that?" Mimi asked, looking worriedly at the others..

"When we first went to the Digimon world, our Digivices led us there." Joe mumbled.

"When it first happened the heart glowed…" Beth recalled.

"It must be these." T.K. held out his digivice. "When we first went to the Digital World, these digivices came flying at us and glowed."

"That's right. Our digivices guided us," Tai said, holding out his own as well. Now that he knew his parents were safe, he didn't hesitate. "Everyone, hold out your digivices."

They had found the eight child, Kari, and all eight of the Chosen Children were together here with the Ethereal guardians. The eight children brought their eight digivices together, raising them up to the sky. Beth followed suit holding out her open hand. Within seconds the heart of Etherea materialized, glowing a hot pink.

"Please! Take us all back to the Digimon world again!"

Hesitantly, Kylie held her hand above the digivices, "Help us get to my… home, please."

In some way the Digiworld is already feeling like a true home to her. The digivices began to glow, creating a circle of light, combining with the glow of the Heart. A rainbow stretched out vertically from the circle towards the strips in the night sky.

"If we go into this colorful tunnel will transport us to the Digimon world!" Joe believed.

"Yeah." Tai agreed. "I'm sure we'll get there safely!"

"The digivices will guide us." Sora added.

"And this time, you got three more recruits that got your back." Yui chimed in.

"T.K.…" T.K.'s mother, Natsuko, stepped towards him.

"Mama, I'm sorry that we have to go again, just when all four of us are back together."

"We have to go! I promise to bring T.K. back safely." Matt said, searching for the right words as he spoke to Natsuko in earnest.

Natsuko looked like she still wanted to say something, but it was Hiroaki Ishida who stopped her. "Let them go. We need to have faith in our own children. We made selfish decisions of our own."

Zaira looked at her family, who nodded at him silently. She solemnly nodded back at them, said, "I'm off."

"Be warned," Vanessa warns them. "In the digital world, even I cannot aid you there, unless there is water, and even that can only be to communicate. But Lady Despair will also rely on her children for support, as she's unable to utilize magic without her Dark Masters nearby, only shape-shift into various digimon forms."

"Wait...she'll be able to BECOME them, like really?" Beth asked worried.

"But above all else, if you keep your wits about you'll be able to tell her," Vanessa said. "For she cannot hide her eyes, they will always have the pink glow to them."

Vanessa cups Kylie's chin, and lifts it gently to place a kiss on her cheek.

"For protection," Vanessa turns and kisses each of them. "Even if I can't go with you, my magic kiss may, and ensure you will not come to harm..." She smiles sheepishly. "Well, **permanent harm**, anyway."

"I don't care for how she said that." Joe said nervous.

"I don't really like she hasn't given US a kiss for protection," Tentomon said in unease.

"You are going back to your birth home now, Kylie. It is your home, as it was your mothers, it's up to you to finally decide. Will you take the place that your mother was robbed of by her death, and tend to the world as your own?" Vanessa gestures to the city surrounding. "Or when all is said and done: Return to Earth, and leave the digital world to fend for itself, alone. As it has for five thousand years?"

"I promise to do everything within my power to do so." Kylie nods solemnly.

"We're counting on you, guys!" Shin said to the group. "We thought it was normal for morning to come after every nightfall, but we may never see the dawn again this time."

"Don't say such morbid things!" Mrs. Izumi rebuked him. "I believe in all sixteen of these children!"

"No, I mean, I do, too!" Shin said sheepishly.

"I'll be fine. We'll make darned sure that the sun _does_ come up!" Joe said determinedly.

"Looking good, Joe!"

"It doesn't suit you at all!"

Sora and Mimi teased him, much to his embarrassment. Then he'd inadvertently backed up into the rainbow tunnel and began to float upwards. Quickly the others all followed suit, joining him in the path of light.

"Time to go!" Dana said in a sing-song tone.

Likewise! Beth jumped in.

The children and Digimon followed all eight guardians into the rainbow beam. They rose swiftly into the air, being carried up through the vertical rainbow. It was at that moment that they could see the people from Big Sight running towards them. Among them were Tai's parents, Sora's mother, Mimi's parents, and Joe's parents. As well as the guardians' families.

"Mom…"

"Mama! Papa!"

"Dad! Mom!"

"I promise… I promise we'll come back safe!"

"Don't worry! We'll definitely be back!" Kari called out as the sight of their families got smaller by the second.

"We're off!" Everyone shouted out.

The feelings that they had all been holding back came bubbling up, and tears sprang from their eyes. They didn't know if their voices could be heard, but they waved their hands with all of their might. Both sides grew smaller and smaller from the other's view as the heroic group continued to rise through the rainbow, but they never stopped waving.

Before long, they disappeared into the Digital World and the rainbow disappeared into the air after them. All of it could be seen clearly, even from the opposite shore of Odaiba, at Shinbashi.

**_To be continued…_**


	29. Enter the Dark Masters

Meanwhile as the Children and guardians ascended towards the Digiworld, they were unaware of the pair of eyes watching the Earth.

"All those human fools wear masks of fear as they wait an eternity in vain for peace and order to return. It's a wonderful sight. Truly wonderful." This was said a jester who was observing Earth and the frightened inhabitants through an enormous telescope.

Out from the ground nearby, a long sea creature burst out. "I don't agree to these pathetic methods," growled the sea beast. "We ought to finish them all with one blast."

"Their flow of time is different from ours." A sinister looking puppet commented. "We should use it to them off slowly one by one."

The jester hovered over. "The guardians, chosen children and Sirene's child will be returning soon. Our time of boredom is over."

"And best of all, our beautiful mother will be returning to us," A large, Machine like beast remarked. "We should have a spectacular welcome for her, show that we've been dutiful all this time."

"Oh boy, I can't wait to see how she reacts to all the miserable digimon and the pain we've inflicted," The Puppet laughed gleefully.

"Yeeees. And with those children arriving, we will have a grand feast of pain and terror to let her glut herself to her heartless body's content!" The Jester laughed wickedly. "Now let us leave the dressing room the stage curtains are rising."

Spotlights shone down on all four of them. "The title is, 'The End of the chosen ones!'"

* * *

Something strange hung in the sky like a mirage, replacing the stars. It was land and sea reflected but it was the Digiworld itself. Just then, on it flashed one point of bright light. It was a rainbow light. It flew from the air towards a strange looking mountain, falling to the ground like a comet with a long tail. It was the Digital World's last hope.

The trip back to the Digiworld had gone from a gentle ascension through a rainbow of colors to an abrupt fall down onto a grassy forest at what felt like dawn. It had to be the Digiworld for up in the sky Hokkaido, the North Island of Japan was reflected in the sky above their heads just as they were able to see the Digimon world from Earth.

"Anyway, what is this place? Is it close to File Island?" Zaira asked.

Haruna worried. "What do we do? If we are to think that the world floating in the sky is Earth, then this place we're in should be the Digital World…"

Izzy booted up his laptop, thinking that he might learn something. When they were falling within the rainbow, he had seen that there was an ocean beneath them and had hurriedly pushed his laptop into Tentomon's arms so that his laptop remained safe.

"Did you find something?" Matt asked.

But, unable to find any clues, Izzy said "No" and shook his head.

"It feels weird, though, doesn't it?" Patamon piped up.

"What's weird?" T.K. asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it doesn't feel like the Digital World."

"Now that you mention it…" Kylie asked the question that had been on her mind. "When we were falling, the landscape looked like it was twisted up into a spiral. Or was that an optical illusion?"

"Oh, I saw that too. I thought I was seeing things, but you saw it too, Sora?" Piyomon said.

The others also said, "Come to think of it, me too!" "Me too!"

But none of them could explain why that was. Everyone's gazes naturally turned to Izzy. "I–I don't know either…"

There was sound of rustling leaves where Joe was and he turned to the pile of grass. "Gomamon? What are you doing down there, Gomamon?"

Only for his digimon partner to poke his head out of Joe's duffel bag. "Joe! I'm over here!"

"Eh? Then who's this?"

As if answering, a small pinkish mouse that jumped out, hit him in the face as it scurried away. The ground suddenly gave away right by him and caused him to fall and hang on off the edge of the crevasse.

"Joe!" Gomamon yelled as he and the rest of the Digimon ran towards him. Those still in baby mode digivolved at once.

"Wait!" Kari stopped them. She stopped by the bush where the mouse was hiding fearfully. "Don't be scared. There's nothing to be scared of. I won't hurt you, so come out."

Slowly the mouse-like digimon walked forward before he collapsed.

"It's Chuumon!" Palmon gasped.

"You're right! He's the Chuumon we saw on File Island!" Mimi recalled.

"Wasn't that that same one with that weird yellow thing that tried to ask you out on a date?" Beth wondered.

"Not a good time."

"Oh, Sacred Lady, you've returned!" Chuumon cried on seeing Kylie.

"What happened while we were on Earth?!" Kylie asked in concern. "Is it true, did Lady Despair's children do this?"

"Oh, those monsters, they're so terrible. They are the opposite of you," Chuumon sniffled. "And they defile the sacred temples, all images of Sirene are defaced or utterly destroyed, erecting statues instead to that horrible witch!"

Chuumon's eyes then landed on Mimi and Palmon. "Mimi? Palmon? Thank goodness… You came back…"

As they looked over the exhausted mouse digimon, the others went to help Joe who was clinging to a cliff. Strangest yet was that part of the cliff itself was crumbling but instead of a bottom there was a dark abyss. How bad had things gotten in their absence?

"He looks more relieved after seeing your face and Kylie's, Mimi." Palmon expressed.

Chuumon was now lying in Mimi's lap. "He must have struggled a lot to survive." Piyomon guessed.

"Poor thing." Sora sympathized.

Chuumon awakened. "Mimi… It's really you and with Sirene's daughter!"

"Yes. What happened here?" Mimi said holding him up by under the armpits.

"Where's Sukamon?" Palmon asked.

"The poor guy… he's dead." Chuumon closed his eyes and started tearing up. "So sad! After you all left File Island, we continued spending our days together peacefully as usual… Then one day, just out of nowhere…"

He explained that the island had begun to rumble, causing them both to run. Then the ground opened up behind Chuumon, causing Sukamon to fall to his death in the abyss.

"The powers of darkness enveloped the world. Those evil forces reshaped the world in such a way so that it'd be easier for them and that evil hag to control it!" Chuumon finished.

"They reshaped the world?" Tai questioned.

"But how?" Izzy inquired.

Chuumon let out a cry of fear and misery. "Some places here and there are ruins of what they had once been, but most of it has been twisted up into that mountain."

Everyone followed his gaze to a towering mountain but it had several landmass and a watery section twisted around. The boundaries between strips was evident, like single lines dividing them.

"So that's what I spotted!" Kylie gaped.

"It's called 'Spiral Mountain.'" Chuumon explained.

"Spiral Mountain, whoa." Matt said dumbfounded.

"I never imagined the Digiworld would change so much…" Joe whined.

"What happened to the other Digimon that lived around here?" Tai asked. "Like Leomon."

"I'm not sure." Chuumon whimpered. "But I've heard that anyone who goes against them is defeated!"

"Against who?" Sora questioned sternly.

"The…Dark Masters."

Beth looked to Chuumon. "Aside from Despair, are they the ones responsible for all this and wrecking half the stuff honoring Kylie's mom?"

"It's terrible! They say their mother is worth a thousand Sirene's and Kylie!" Chuumon wailed. "Those who protested...they all adore her, but the Dark Masters you definitely DO NOT want to insult Lady Despair in front of are Piedmon and Puppetmon." He shuddered. "Death is too quick for those sadists. Puppetmon uses them as toys, and Piedmon, he puts on...'Shows.'" Chuumon screams, and covers his ears, crying as Kylie tries to pull his hands off, before he tears off his ears.

"OH SIRENE, THE SCREAMS! THE HORROR!" Chuumon cried. "WHY WEREN"T YOU HERE!? WHY DID YOU ABANDON US!?"

Chuumon's hysterical crying has Kylie misting up in sympathy, and she hugs the pink mouse close, cradling him like a child, shushing him.

"Shhhh~ Calm...I'm here now, we all are." Kylie reassured, even as her own tears fell.

"Which means they're stronger than Myotismon…" At Zaira's words, everyone nodded silently.

"If we're comparing strength…" Gatomon added, "Then yes, they rival in power to the four Holy Beasts. The Dark Masters managed to seal away the four Holy Beasts, after all."

"What are the four Holy Beasts?" T.K. asked curiously.

"They refer to Qinglongmon, Baihumon, Xuanwumon, and Zhuqiaomon…" Gatomon paused just then because her knowledge on the four Holy Beasts was obscure.

"So, these four Holy Beasts…" This time, it was Joe. "Are they our friends? And if that's the case, are they the ones that chose us?"

"I don't know that. I was on the opposing side when I learned of them. They would certainly be the enemy of our enemy, but whether that makes them our allies… I'm not sure…"

"Then it sounds like those so-called Dark Masters are the ones we have to fight next." Tai said determinedly

"You're going to fight them?!" Chuumon cried. "Don't do it, you'll never be able to beat them!"

"Just so you know, we'd just defeated Myotismon!" Tai answered full of confidence.

"It'll be okay! As long as all Guardians and Chosen children are together, we can save the world!" Mimi assured Chuumon.

"This fight is going to be tougher than anything we've ever faced before, but let's do our best!" Beth said confidently.

However they were interrupted by the sound of malicious laughter.

"Guardians, Chosen Children! I've been waiting for you!"

Right in front of them the ground exploded and a great sea serpent breached out.

"I-It's MetalSeadramon!" Chuumon screamed.

Metal Seadramon had a gold head, underside and fins and reddish brown eyes, the rest of him appeared to be a silvery in color with a body that easily exceeded two hundred meters in length.

The group began to run from the sea serpent, then he sailed through, several of the children and guardians just barely avoiding him. However the sudden movements had caused the heroes to stumble on the forest floor.

"Even as large as he is he can move quickly." Matt comments.

"Let's go, Agumon!" Tai ordered, holding out his digivice.

The Digimon digivolved while the eight guardians took on fairy form.

"Mega Flame!" Greymon's trademark attack hit MetalSeadramon right in the face to no avail and he was merely knocked aside. The same happened to all the others even to the last two. Angemon was swatted aside and Gatomon was nearly eaten (much to Kylie's distress) before she was tossed down next to Angemon.

"Angemon!" T.K. cried.

"Gatomon…" Kari whimpered worriedly.

"C'mon girls, let's give him the old convergence cannon!" Beth urged the other guardians.

"As if you can win against me." MetalSeadramon mocked.

The Fairies however, gathered together, and unleashed their attack, but MetalSeadramon managed to take the hit, though a second hit did cause him to waver in his swimming through the air.

"Impossible. He took two convergence cannon attacks!?" Yui gasped.

"Why!?" Mimi cried out in dismay. "It's 14 against one!"

Izzy was looking at his laptop, and gasped in shock. "I knew Lady Despair's black blood created powerful digimon, but this is a Mega level!"

"Mega?" Tai asked in shock.

"No matter how many adult digimon we throw at him, and it seems the fairies' magic is ineffectual against them either!" Izzy informed them.

"Why does our first opponent have to be a powerful one? It's not fair!" Joe whined.

"No, we just need to pour more into it," Zaira stated. "We had an effect, we dinged him up, look!"

She points to a gash in MetalSeadramon's side, but that was quickly overlooked, when the beast began to power up his nose canon.

"You wretched Pixies. Mother was right to tell us not to hold back," MetalSeadramon growled. "ULTIMATE STREAM!"

"LOOK OUT!" Kylie cried out as she flung herself over Kari and Gatomon, Zaira did the same for Izzy, Dana with T.K. and Angemon, and so did the others.

The fairies glowed brightly, and their magic poured forth to shield them as a massive blue beam shot out of the nose canon.

And it hit, it hit with a devastating force, the kids all shouted in alarm, and fear, though the fairies shield's held, they were shuddering as it was being depleted greatly by the force of the attack. And worse, they were sent flying away by the kinetic strength of the attack.

* * *

The force had blasted them back into another section, one covered in white mist. Beth stood up on shaky legs, removing her arms from around Sora and Birdramon's leg.

"Sound off, who's here? And only the live ones." she called.

Everyone responds with moans and groans of pain. Good, that meant they were all together and not separated.

Dana opened her eyes, looking left and right, as she breathed heavily. "T.K...? Angemon... are you two alright?"

Angemon nods once then looked to his human partner. "Never mind me, T.K.?"

T.K. blinked up at Dana and at Angemon with a warm smile. "I'm okay. Thanks."

"We're fine thanks to you." Dana gently touched Angemon's face, the angel digimon didn't even pull away. However the silent tender moment was interrupted by a peculiar sound. It was like growling only robotic.

Angemon stood up, shielding Dana and T.K. with his wings, and looked around in concern. Kylie stood up over Gatomon and Kari, and was startled when a metal claw lashed out from the mist and she barely dodged it with a shriek.

"So, this is the one that our brother would have betrayed Mother for?" A voice spoke, it was low, empty and sounded like coming from a metal pipe.

"Something's there. I'll go take a look." Angemon flew up only to be struck by two giant blasts of energy.

"Angemon!" T.K. and Dana cried.

As Angemon fell, he changed back to Patamon and fortunately landed into T.K.'s arms.

"Patamon! Patamon, hang in there!" T.K. pleaded.

Dana patted the brave little digimon and turned in the direction the blasts came from with a glower. "You'll pay for that you - uhm, whatever you are!"

Their opponent came out of the fog, it was a giant mechanized Dinosaur with two large cannons on its back.

"He's another Mega-Level Digimon! Machinedramon!" Izzy cried out, "He wields unbelievable power and his special attack is Mugen Cannon!"

To be clear, the word Mugen was Japanese for infinity. And of course, this meant the others would have to amp up their game. So the Digimon digivolved except for Patamon once more thanks to the power of the crests.

"Then we go full Digix mode!" Theo declared.

"Right!" The guardians cried.

A blaze of multicolored magical energy coursed through the air, encircling the guardians. Each fairy was surrounded by a brilliant swirl of mystical force that filled her with intense power and changed her into her battle form, with a sleek outfit and shimmering wings. One by one, they called out their names and powers as the transformation reached a fever pitch.

"Go get him! Fight! Fight!" Tai yelled out.

"But we can't win." Kari muttered, surprising her brother.

"Mugen Cannon!" Machinedramon roared.

"Pixel Protection!" Zaira conjured up an electronic wall, which blocked the attack. But several cracks appeared on its surface.

The giant metal dragon growled lowly, and primed his canons again to fire.

"Starlight Flash!" Yui calls out.

She holds up her palm, and a blinding flash of starlight causes Machinedramon to veer off course when he fires. Yet Machinedramon did not let up he kept firing, knocking the Digimon back and then fired at the ground, which crumbled right under the group and sent them falling into a dark crevasse.

* * *

Except they fell for what felt like five minutes and then they were all floating in midair.

"We stopped." said Izzy.

"Where are we? What's going on?" Mimi asked with Chuumon in her arms.

Theo checked around the kids, "Alright. I get us since we've got wings, but how're you all just hovering there?"

"I haven't a clue."

Then WereGarurumon and Garudamon started to punch each other.

"What are you doing, WereGarurumon?" Matt yelled.

"Stop, Garudamon! You're both friends!" Sora shouted.

"I'm not doing this on purpose!" Garudamon cried.

"My body… It's moving by itself!" WereGarurumon claimed

"They're being moved around by something." Sora guessed then her arms moved to form a box shape.

It wasn't long before they all started moving without them doing anything.

"Aah! What's going on here?" Joe's legs kicked back and forth as he clung to Zudomon's horn.

Just then Izzy shouted out. "I've got strings attached! And they're controlling us!"

Kylie was being moved like a ballerina, she looked at her arm and saw strings just like he said! "We're being moved like puppets on strings!"

"Hehehehe. So, you finally figured it out?" a childish voice snickered.

They looked up to see a Pinocchio like wooden puppet creature with a large hammer staring down at them.

"Who are you?" Zaira called out.

"Why not ask the little nerd there's computer? Do it!" The creature held out his hand, and moved his fingers to move the strings so Izzy was forced to type on his computer.

"He's also a Mega Level!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Puppetmon is his name." Zaira said looking over his shoulder.

"Yes, I am. Mama ranked me NUMBER 1 Bad Personality of my I guess I see why Myotismon liked fooling around with you, Sirene's Heir." Puppetmon sneers as he floats, like a marionette, in front of Kylie, who yelped in surprise. "You're pretty, so you would be fun to play around with," Puppetmon frowns. "But he could've already gotten a new you, if he just let mama break you."

"Mama...Lady Despair!?" Yui called out.

"Of course! Stupid empty head, why else would there be digimon as powerful as me?" Puppetmon scoffed.

"Why do these wretched children of that horrible witch keep appearing one after another?" Mimi asked incredulous. "It's really annoying!"

Lilymon touched Mimi's shoulders with both hands in comfort. "Mimi!" She exclaimed.

"HEY! Watch what you say about Mama!" Puppetmon growled. "You're needed on the final stage, anyway!"

He lifts his hand, and all the kids were sent flying, though the digimon, and fairies remained.

"As for you, Miss Goldie locks." Puppetmon growled. "You'll go with the others, but you oughta pay for giving our Mama such trouble!" He swings his hammer at Kylie and the others. "BULLET HAMMER!"

The fairies and digimon screamed as balls of yellow light shot from the holes in Puppetmon's hammer, and the digimon went back to their rookie levels, as the girls were de-transformed back to their human forms.

* * *

When they all got their bearings straight, they noticed that they've fallen somewhere else. This time they'd landed into a coliseum of some sorts. Much like Greymon suffered his Dark Evolution, only smaller.

From behind one of the pillars, a clown rolled in while balancing on a large red ball. It wore a lime green suit with pink polka dots and a matching hat. "Hello, good children, and a warm greeting to the lovely ladies!"

"Now what?!" The eight guardians said in exasperation.

The clown merely pulls a few tricks. Instantly three bouquets appeared, then handing one to Beth, Kylie and Zaira. Beth's was roses, the other two got simple wildflowers.

Zaira rolled her violet eyes. "It'd feel short changed, if romantic gestures from strangers meant nothing to me."

"Today I'm going to tell you all an interesting story." The clown began. He pulled out a childish crayon drawing of the group. "A long, long time ago, there were eight Chosen Children and their Digimon that met eight magical maidens." He pulled the picture to show another one of us climbing up Spiral Mountain. "They were all foolish enough to climb up Spiral Mountain and since they were so weak, they were killed by the Dark Masters."

"Are you kidding me?!" Theo spat.

T.K. scoffed. "That story wasn't interesting at all!"

"Yeah, that's not a story: that was dumb!" Dana snapped.

The clown was barely fazed. "All I did was merely show you your destiny. On the contrary, you should be grateful."

His visage suddenly began to vanish, only for his place to be replaced by a chuckling jester armed with four large swords. He then flew up and stood upon one of the pillars. The sudden change caused the group great alarm, and Chuumon wailed. "It's Piedmon!"

Kylie then shrieked as a blue spitting cobra burst out of the wildflower bouquet! Tai slaps the bouquet out of her hands and immediately, Theo scorched the serpent to ashes.

"Hahahaha! A personal gift from your 'almost-mother in law.'" The clown laughed.

Kylie looked at the clown in growing fear. 'Almost Mother in Law? What did...no, did he mean?'

Zaira actually hollered as the flowers she'd been holding had withered to ashes. While the flowers remained unchanged, Beth threw the rose bouquet down in disgust.

"We're not gonna lose to clown like you!" Tai declared. "Agumon!"

"Gabumon, I'm counting on you!"

Tai and Matt held out their digivices for their digimon to reach mega level.

"Agumon, warp-evolve to… WARGREYMON!"  
"Gabumon, warp-evolve… METALGARURUMON!"

"Then this should also be our cue, right Kylie?" Beth said.

"It's you and them against that joker!" Kylie nods.

In a flash, they reach their Enchantix level.

"Go, WarGreymon! Show him what we're made of!"

"MetalGarurumon! Take him down and we save the world!"

"You too!" The boys urged Kylie and Beth.

"We're on it!"

"Gaia Force!" WarGreymon threw his massive attack but Piedmon leapt out of the way.

"Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon blew forward his icy attack, but Piedmon pulled out one of his swords and sliced it in mid-air.

The two Enchantix fairies were next but as Kylie got closer she suddenly stopped. In her mind's eye, she saw a vision.

Sirene the nymph, turning away from her infant daughter... as fire rages all around her... A familiar jester pulling out a sword…

The fairy snaps out of her vision, stunned. Beth turns and is shocked to see Kylie staring back, making no move to attack.

Kylie gasped. "You... you were there."

"He was?!" MetalGarurumon cried, shocked.

Piedmon actually chuckled balefully. "Indeed, I was. I'm flattered. You remembered." He said before pulling out two more swords and throwing them. "Trump Sword!"

WarGreymon got one in the chest armor and MetalGarurumon in the neck area, they fell back to the ground in child level.

The two Enchantix fairies used their respective elements on Piedmon, only that he came out unscathed! He merely smirked and threw several more swords at them – while they didn't break the skin or garments, it was still a painful impact that pushed them back to the ground and forced them back to civilian mode.

"N-No way!" Joe croaked.

"We can't win even with two Megas or Enchantix fairies on our side?" gasped Sora.

"He's also a Mega, isn't he?" Mimi asked.

"Even if we are at the same level, you have only recently gained your new powers." Piedmon explained. "You are greatly mistaken if you think that is all it will take to win."

"I'm sorry, Tai." Agumon apologized.

"Permit me now to introduce the members that make up the Dark Masters, the better for you to recognize us." Piedmon gestured as if he were a performer on stage introducing the cast. "MetalSeadramon!"

The metallic sea serpent burst from the ground and began to hover in the air.

"Machinedramon!" The mechanized beast just crashed through the building's walls before stopping a few feet from them.

"Puppetmon!" The marionette digimon appeared hanging upside down with a malicious giggle.

"Too bad, because I wanted to have a little more fun with you." The puppet said a little disappointed but his voice was laced with sinister intentions.

"And myself, Piedmon. And in the box seat, watching this fabulous play is our Grand Dark Mistress!"

The jester gestures up to a box seat covered with a blood red curtain, and reveals Lady Despair, dresses in a blue oriental like dress, and holding a black feather fan with a black, crystal skull on the center, of the bottom of the fan.

"Bravo! Bravo! Encore!" Lady Despair cheers.

"Why does this not surprise me?" Dana asked sarcastically.

"We are our mother's children, for five thousand years in the digital world we've honed our powers," Machinedramon proudly proclaimed.

"And we'll wash you away with the tide, before you can blink an eye." MetalSeadramon bragged with a laugh.

"Now I'm afraid the fun is over. Let's… Which one of you would like to die first?" Piedmon said with mock thoughtfulness.

Everyone froze in fear. Mimi began to wail, "No… I don't want to! I'm only in the fourth grade! Why do I have to die here? It's not fair!"

Sora tried to comfort her. "Mimi…"

The older girls were all trying to shush her but the younger girl continued weeping. "I wanted to dress up in fashionable clothes, and eat more yummy things, and then maybe go on a trip abroad, and…!"

"Your incessant whining grows tiresome." Piedmon remarked. "You obviously want to be the first to die."

Mimi stopped crying at once and gaped. A small dagger was tossed out from Piedmon's right sleeve towards her but Chuumon jumped right out of her arms, causing the blade to strike him in the chest instead.

"NO!" Kylie screamed in horror.

Mimi quickly picked up the mouse digimon, as Kylie rushed to the side, and looked at the mouse in despair.

"Chuumon, hold on!" Mimi cried.

"NO! Not him too!" Kylie was covering her mouth, tears in her eyes.

"Mimi...when I'm reborn...go on a date with me..." Chuumon said weakly.

"Chuumon!" Mimi wailed. She shut her eyes, hugging the little critter, but he gave up his last breath and turned into data.

"NO! Oh By the Three Brothers, no!" Kylie gasped, almost hysterical over the death.

"Oh, that brave little mouse!" Sara G. said solemnly.

"He was right up there with Hannah in mice I respect, to save Mimi." Dana said just as overwrought.

"What a foolish Digimon." Piedmon jeered. "There's no need to rush in choosing death."

"Ahahahaha!"

The group all turned with a sneer on their lips, as Piedmon floated over with Lady Despair, holding her hand in his left, as Lady Despair waved his fan to cover her smile.

"Oh, what delicious misery, such utter, gratifying despair, and hot sticky pain," Lady Despair trills. "It's true, I cannot perform my sorcery without my boys as a focus, but the time I've spent here before you got here, and now? It's more than restored my powers to beyond their zenith, I've fully recovered from using so much magic, and my blood in reviving Myotismon, and fighting the Dark Spectre Queen."

Lady Despair lowered her fan, and snaps it shut to point at the group with an angry stare.

"Three...I have lost THREE children because of you, and that Sea Hag can't protect you here," Lady Despair hissed. "I will see you all suffer for my pain, and my powers will grow and expand."

Sierra turns, and cups Piedmon's chin affectionately, who lifts his chin up with an amused chuckle and smile as Lady Despair stroked his soft under chin with her silver finger talon.

"I'm quite proud of my boys," Lady Despair brags. "They've accomplished so much for me, as Kylie will attest as witness. Though she was but a babe, at the time of her mother's death."

Kylie looked up, eyes wide, as a feeling of horror overcame her, and a memory.

_~SHE'S COMING! She's going to kill you, Sirene~_

_~I don't care about my life, only Kylie matters, and our home. She will return and protect this world~_

_~A sad shame, Nymph. But this little battle between us has gone long enough~_

_~Find that baby, find me Sirene's Heir!~_

"Their ONE tiny mistake," Lady Despair said lowering her hand. "But I forgave them, and despite the fool mouse shielding, you will all perish now."

"We'll never let you get away with this!" Tai yelled.

Beth stepped forward aggressively. "Now you look here! I'm not gonna let you or anything else hurt our friends!"

However the Dark Masters just laughed as their leader observed Beth as though she was an intriguing work of art.

"Beguiling little thing, aren't you?" Piedmon smirked, "Tell me, Keeper of the Heart… how you would you like to join us?"

I'm pretty sure there was a record scratch somewhere. On the viewing balcony, Lady Despair actually facepalmed.

The heroes stopped long enough to stare in helpless disbelief as if he'd just grown two heads. Did they just hear that right? Was Piedmon trying to swoon Beth?

"A beauteous empyrean bloom such as yourself should be on the arm of a powerful lord."

He was. Naturally, Beth was both disgusted and outraged. "Well, you know what I got to say? FORGET IT!"

The other three Dark Masters sounded amused. "Ooh…!"

Lady Despair actually raised her eyebrows. "Hmmm, he picked himself an aggressive one."

However Beth's unwanted suitor looked more captivated than displeased. "Feisty and striking… but believe me, dear, you will be mine, no matter what it takes." He'd said the last part in a foreboding tone.

"ENOUGH OF THIS FOOLISH, FLIRTING!" Lady Despair booms.

Lady Despair was transformed, and to everyone, minus the Dark Masters, shock. She'd turned into Myotismon, though as Vanessa had warned before, her eyes remained the same.

"A familiar face, don't you agree, Kylie?" Lady Myotis declared, waving out her arms. "I'll never see my son again, unless I gain enough power to do so. And that won't happen, as long as you're alive."

S/he sneered as they held up a gloved hand, where a long, crimson bolt of lightning appeared. "Fortunately, I can rectify that little problem. CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" Lady Myotismon cracked the whip down towards the nymph, who Beth had barely pushed out of the way.

The crack of the whip left a huge hole, which made everyone stumble and cry out in alarm.

"You will not escape me again, child!" hissed Lady Myotismon. S/he crossed her arms to prepare another attack.

"Pit Bomb!"

Suddenly a projectile was hurled in her direction, and exploded in front of Lady Myotismon, who being in vampire form was blinded painfully by the blast.

"AHHHHH!" Sierra screamed as she turned back to her real form, and fell to the stadium floor, clutching her eyes. "MY EYES! MY EYES!"

"Mama!" Puppetmon shouts rushing to her side.

"Oh, Dear, Mother Dearest!" Piedmon was by her side with a moistened handkerchief.

"Mother..." Machinedramon growled.

"Huuh!?" MetalSeadramon looked around. "THEY'RE GONE!"

"WHAT!?" Lady Despair pushed herself up, and shoved her boys aside to look through bleary eyes, and saw that the fairies and others were truly gone.

Be it luck or divine intervention, when the heroes opened their eyes they were in a bubble flying away from the coliseum and Piximon fluttering before them.

"Piximon, I'm so glad to see you!" T.K. cheered.

"Me too, pi!" The pixie smiled.

"And in the nick of time!" Beth nodded.

"You were able to approach us by creating a barrier that the enemy couldn't see!" said Izzy.

"That's right pi!"

"Piximon! We came all this way believing that as long as the nine of us are together, we could save both our worlds! And yet…!" Tai tried to explain.

"It's true that all of you are together pi, but that's not enough to win pi!"

"Then we'll fight!" Kylie said to stand up, only to be poked down by Piximon.

"No, you are the last hope for our world, you are the last bloodline of Sirene." Pixiemon looked sadly at Kylie, who looked back in surprise.

"You knew?" Kylie said.

"Yes, I knew, Pi. Your mother entrusted me with this," Pixiemon hands over a necklace, a mask like ornament hanging from it. "This was her most prized possession, besides her daughter, Pi. With it, you will one day awaken your blood, and become the Guardian Nymph as she was once, Pi."

Kylie held the necklace in shock.

"But if you die now, then there's truly no hope for our world, and Lady Despair will win, Pi!" Pixiemon carried on.

Just then, the whole bubble began to rock and flash.

"Found you." MetalSeadramon's voice sneered.

"I'll stop them pi! You head towards Spiral Mountain while I keep them busy pi!"

"You stop them?" Matt questioned incredulously. "But they're all Ultimate-Levels!"

"I know that pi! Even if I can't win, I can still put up a fight pi!"

"Then I'll fight with you!" Tai volunteered.

"Don't be a fool! You're all the last hope for his world pi!"

"Ahahaha! THERE, MY GREAT BEAST OF A SON!" Lady Despair laughs, riding on MetalSeadramon's head, clinging to his metal dorsal fin.

The sea serpent unleashes his powerful nose canon blast, but the force field holds and Piximon flies out.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find, pi, what you are lacking and help Kylie attain her inheritance." Piximon declared.

The little fairy digimon felt compelled to act. He wanted to teach the children to never give up on their dreams. What he was going to undertake might appear to them like a foolish, reckless act. But his message ought to reach them. No, he had to believe that it would.

"When you do, you will be invincible pi! Now go, Chosen Children, Fairies of Magic, and Daughter of Sirene, Future mother of us all!" Piximon then smacked them with his spear, and sent them flying.

"You are Pixiemon, are you not?"

Pixiemon turns with an irritated grunt to see the Dark Masters, up front, and Lady Despair, floating in the air as she crosses her legs, and taps her scepter in her hand.

"You're that miserable little creature that hung around that foul nymph in the past," Lady Despair glared. "I'll bet you are responsible for her daughter escaping me that day."

"No, that was the work of fate, pi! As it was not her destiny to die so young at your hands-pi!" Piximon carried on.

"Ahahahahaha!" Lady Despair laughed into the back of her hand. "Oh, you believed I wished to KILL 'Kylie?'" Lady Despair smirks. "Oh hardly, I planned to corrupt her, and use her to control this world and all of the other infinite dimensions. Soon, she would steer the ship that would free me trapped in this sphere of reality. BUT I WAS FOILED, AND NOW SHE IS FAR FROM MY TOUCH!"

Lady Despair lashes out, and her scepter shocks Pixiemon painfully.

"But it matter not, as you are here for me to vent my frustrations, and soon the rest of those miserable Earth-Pukes will be too!" Lady Despair hissed.

"A perfect level like you, believing you stood a chance against us, the children of our Dark Mother?" Piedmon laughed. "Now THAT is true comedy."

"Say what you want..." Pixiemon cried out in pain. "She will win, Sirene's soul still dwells in this world, and she will guide Kylie to her ascension!"

Lady Despair's eyes widen, before they glow red, and she reaches out to Piximon.

Far from the coliseum, a massive explosion lit up the building, and shook the area, where even the heroic group felt it. And that left no doubt on Piximon's fate.

"Piximon's dead…" Kari sadly stated.

They've been in the Digiworld for less than a couple of hours and already two digimon have sacrificed themselves to save them. How many more must perish before the Dark Masters can be defeated?

**_To be continued…_**


	30. Escape and ocean fights

The bubble had carried them all the way to the seaside, but everyone was exhausted from the fight and not having slept.

"I feel as though we've been here before." Izzy tried to remember "Ah! Broken telephone booths…"

"It's those telephone booths!"

"Yeah! This is the beach on File Island where we met our Digimon for the first time and set off on our journey!" Tai cried.

"The very same one where Agumon first became Greymon and I used my power of Charmix!" Theo remembered.

However none of them knew they were being watched.

* * *

His sights were still on the ferocious redhead guardian. Unable to think in terms of love, he thought of it in terms of love perverted with ambition and physical desire.

"I've spotted the Chosen Children and their allies." Piedmon informed his brothers and Mother.

"As Sea King, the coastal area is under my control." MetalSeadramon gave his claim as to why he should be the one to deal with the Children at the moment. "Their lives are mine for the taking. My only problem now is who I should use among my evil Deep Savers Army…"

MetalSeadramon was the type who preferred joining the battlefield with his troops and fighting rather than sitting imposingly on a throne. When faced with a worthy opponent on top of that, his fighting spirit boiled.

In those terms, he considered himself extremely lucky that the Chosen Children had fallen into his territory. MetalSeadramon could have shot his Ultimate Stream consecutively, killing them instantly, but that wasn't his style. If he was going to kill someone, then he preferred tormenting and then killing them, rather than just killing them. That's right. He wasn't going to let them die easily.

"No fair, no fair!" Puppetmon stomps his foot. "I haven't gotten a chance to really play with them, I want to! I WANT TO!"

Lady Despair rushed to puppetmon's side, as he worked himself into a fit, and grabs his shoulders, sucking out the red mist of anger from his body to calm him down.

"Now, now, Puppetmon. The coast is a part of your brothers territory," Lady Despair reminds him. "And he has the right, you know the rules."

Sierra tilts up Puppetmon's face as he pouts, and presses a kiss to her fingertips, and presses them to the end of his nose, causing Puppetmon to blush embarrassed and happy.

"I promise, I will find other playmates for you," Lady Despair has a wicked smile. "And furthermore, with my magic I can just bring them back to life, so just ONE death won't do them in. You ALL can get a chance to kill them, over and over again."

Puppetmon seemed appeased, and actually excited for the prospect, Puppetmon then hopping off with a happy, cheerful song on his lips, while Piedmon floats over to his mother and frowns over her shoulder at his departing brother.

"You spoil him too much, you know that." Piedmon said.

As the eldest, he got away with being more upfront with their Mother, but she responds by rubbing the side of his head with her hand, as he rests his chin on her shoulder.

"I spoil you all, and you're no different from him in regards to getting your way," Lady Despair said. "But remember, you never do ANYTHING for yourself, ALL of you do it for ME. And I in turn, provide you with all your wishes and desires."

Lady Despair pulls away and gestures to the remaining Dark Masters.

"All of you are my blood, what you want, I want and so forth," Lady Despair holds out her arms. "For you are from the blood that flows from my veins, and thus are the mightiest of the Ultimate's. Never forget, a Mother's duty is her children, and her children duty is to respect and protect their mother."

"Never, Mother." Machindramon bows low, reving his engine softly. "You know, our life is yours, and you have never failed in your regards to US."

Lady Despair bows her head a little.

"Only once...when you were sealed," Lady Despair admits. "When that Nymph...and her foul sons!"

MetalSeadramon coils around her with a low soft hum.

"Fret not, your failure is moot because we are free now, and we will avenge the slight onto you," MetalSeadRamon declares.

"Then go, My Great Beast of a Son," Lady Despair coos as she pets his nose. "And drown those children in a tidal wave of anguish!"

MetalSeadramon elegantly winded his long, narrow body through the waters, tracking

* * *

In the meantime the group had a trip down memory lane spotting the beach where they'd seen the telephone booths – back when things seemed much simpler. Then, after a run-in with Shellmon, the sun began to blare down on them.

"Is that a mirage?" Tai wondered.

"That's a beach hut!" Matt informed.

"Did there used to be a beach hut on the coasts of File Island?" T.K. questioned.

Dana shook her head. "Nope, just phone booths."

When the heat settled, they saw that the beach hut was no mirage. With the heat and not having had eaten anything since they left earth, it was obvious the group was more than hungry and thirsty so they all charged towards it.

"Ramen!"

"Curried rice!"

"Ice cream!"

"Yakisoba noodles!"

"Frozen pop!"

Just then Joe accidentally stepped on the back of Mimi's shoe, causing her to fall over.

"Sorry!" Joe apologized.

"Oh, honestly…" Mimi complained.

Their digimon, with Yui and Sara G rushed back towards them.

"What are you guys doing?" Gomamon asked.

"They'll get their hands on all of the food if we don't catch up to them!" Palmon urged.

"And there's nothing like mortal terror to work up a appetite," Sara G said.

"Thou knowing Mimi, she'd want to starve a bit to lose some pounds," Yui comments.

"Oh! I don't need to starve, I'm perfectly svelt!" Mimi argues.

"AAHHHHH!"

They swiftly turned and saw a massive sand dune pile in front of the entrance of the hut, with their friends trapped inside.

"OH NO! It's a literal 'tourist trap.'" Sara G exclaimed. "But I didn't think the Dark Masters would act so fast!"

"Are you kidding?" Mimi remarked. "You know how that Hag Despair wants Kylie gone, she's no doubt getting her kids with a pitchfork to take care of her and us included!"

Inside the hut, everyone was startled as a digimon burst out of the sand of the floor.

"Anomalocarimon!" It cried out.

"Ah! Oh No!" Beth cried out.

"This is no ordinary Beach Hut," Anomalocarimon stated. "It's a Death Hut, created by the Mad Artist to drain your energy and add to her own!"

"What!?" Matt asked in shock, only for all the kids, Digimon and fairies to cry out in alarm, when a black light glowed onto their bodies.

"Sand Shower!" Anomalocarimon shouts, and hit them with a sandblast.

"Stop, I won't...ah..." Kylie shouts, only to fall to her knees as a pink energy came off her body into the light.

"S-Sis!" Gatomon cried out, reaching for Kylie, only to fall as well.

"The...The heart..." Beth was on her belly, staring at the heart which was flickering, losing its brightness like a star dying.

"It's...draining...our...mana..." Kylie gasped breathless. "Our lifeforce and magic..."

Soon everyone was on the floor, unable to move with having their energy drained and hit with the sandblasts.

"Those voices, everyone is being attacked!" Sara G gasped in alarm.

The hut's entrance was blocked by sand. Quietly, those that evaded capture snuck around to the hut's side to look through the blinds. There were the others unconscious and partially covered with sand.

Then they heard MetalSeadramon's laughter.

"Well done, Anomalocarimon! I expect nothing less from a member of my Deep Savers Army!"

Hiding behind a palm tree, they listened in on the conversation between the sea serpent and giant scorpion

"Here's your reward." MetalSeadramon showered Anomalocarimon with clams.

"Yay! Anomalocarimon!" He started to dig in much like one would at a buffet.

"Time for the kill." MetalSeadramon hovered away.

~_Sara...to the water, hurry. Sara..._~

Sara looked over to the ocean, and saw the water sparkling, with glints of purple lights with a voice in her head.

"Sara, what's the matter?" Jou whispers.

"I...I hear someone..." Sara responded.

"There are two Chosen Children and fairies missing!" MetalSeadramon growled as he floated over to his minion.

"But I got Sirene's Heir, didn't I?" Anomalocarimon asked in frantic manner.

"YES! The one good thing you did," MetalSeaDramon growled. "Find them, now!"

~_Hurry! Hurry!_~

The voice called out to Sara, who seemed the only one to hear it, and hurried to grab the others.

"Hurry! We have to get to the water!" Sara G said as Anomalocarimon began his pursuit.

Briefly the escapees tripped. Ironically, Anomalocarimon also did the same, albeit unintentionally.

Finally the group got up and took cover behind the boulder, when they peeked out the giant scorpion was nowhere in sight just a large hole in the ground.

Their best chance was for Gomamon and Palmon to eat something to help Sara and Yui fight back. Gomamon found some clams while Palmon gathered a strand of seaweed.

"Wait." Sara interrupted. "While we were eavesdropping, I heard a voice telling me to reach the water. That's my element so maybe I can get a power boost."

Sara leaned over the water, and touched it, as she did a glow of purple glittered on the water, before it swept up her arms and made her eyes glow brightly.

"Neptune Fist!" Sara cried out.

A massive fist of water burst out of the water, holding Anomalocarimon in its grasp.

"Ahhh! Let me go!" The deep sea diver cried out.

"Now, Palmon, Gomamon!" Sara shouted.

Both Digimon leapt forward and digivolved.

The scorpion tried his signature attack but both Digimon quickly dodged.

"Needle spray!"  
"Harpoon Vulcan!"

Both attacks hit, but it wasn't very effective. Anomalocarimon swatted away Ikkakumon and picked Togemon to toss her.

"Our turn!" Yui declared.

In a burst of stars and watery streams the two fairies transformed to their Digix mode.

"Star light beam!"

"Naiad's strike!"

The attacks hit pushing the sea scorpion back. The next attack created a sizable hole. Inside were a number of clams. "This looks delicious!" He picked them up and began to eat them.

And with that distraction, Togemon became Lillymon, and Ikakumon became Zudomon.

"Now it's the end for you!" Yui called out.

Anomalocarimon turned around and immediately blasted an attack towards the quartet.

"Stinger Surprise!" Anomalocarimon blasted at the turtle digimon.

But Zudomon bent over and the attack bounced harmlessly against his shell, while Lillymon attacked with her flower canon. Immediately, the sea creature digimon was sent backwards, dazed and confused.

"He's out," Yui stated. "Now we have to go and help the others."

~_To you, I invoke...~_

Sara stopped, and listened to the voice calling from the water.

"Sara?" Mimi looked at the fairy.

~_To you, I invoke. From deep in the sea, to the shining stars and mighty world tree, restore their energy, let it be!~_

And Sara felt a tingly feeling, it was like having hot water poured over her body, and she knew. It was a new spell, one of healing and restoration.

~_To you, I invoke. From deep in the sea, to the shining stars and the mighty world tree, restore their energy, let it be!~_

Sara chanted out loud, and raising her arms over her head

"He's late! Anomalocarimon is late!" MetalSeadramon shouted. "What is he doing? I don't care anymore about the other two Chosen Children." He shot a stream of fire from his mouth into the sky in order burn alive the children inside.

A cloud of blue smoke and purple lights appeared over the hut, where MetalSeadramon back away from in alarm. And then a massive torrent of rain poured down, melting away the hut, and touching the fairies, digidestined and their digimon. It washed away the sand, and soon the kids all stirred, awakening them from their coma state.

"What is this!?" MetalSeadramon roared in outrage.

He unleashed a torrent of flames at the cloud, but the storm cloud absorbed the attack, and then aimed the torrent at MetalSeadramon. The ultimate digimon gagged as the water poured down his mouth, as the cloud poured down his throat.

"Hurry! We have to save them all!" Joe shouts, as Zudomon charged with the two on his back, with Sara and Yui flying beside them with Lilymon, while Zudomon tugged along Anomalocarimon.

"What...what happened?" Beth pushed herself up by her hands.

"And why are we all wet?" Gatomon hissed in annoyance.

"You guys, hurry!" Sara flew over to Yui, helping her up onto her knees. "I don't know how long the spell will last!"

Mimi helped Sora to her feet, as did everyone else who was able, though being cleaned off by the rain helped them to move faster.

"Come on, I don't want to be around when the faucet shuts!" Theo said as she and the others hurried off.

The group made their way off, Zudomon tossing Anomalocarimon at MetalSeadramon, which knocked him onto the ground.

"Ahh! You miserable..." MetalSeadramon bellowed, only to have the water pouring hard down on the two.

""Arrrgh! It's hot, it's hot!" Anomalocarimon screamed as the water kicked up a notch.

"MOTHER!" MetalSeadramon finally roared out in desperation.

An explosion of fire erupted from the sand, and there was Lady Despair, wearing a blue dress with a sparkling, crimson red and black sea serpent climbing up the side.

"What is this nonsense!?" Lady Despair points her scepter at the raincloud and a twister shot out of the skulls mouth to blow the cloud away.

"Ahh! I almost drowned and was boiled..." Anomalocarimon groaned.

"UGH! You are the cause of this, you failed to capture those two fairies," Lady Despair hissed. "This is the water fairies work, the Dark Spectre Queen used her as a medium to teach her that spell!" Sierra in a fit, drove the black, crystal, horned skull of her scepter into the sand. And immediately, Anomalocarimon was sucked into a massive sinkhole. He flailed about with scream, before engulfed in flames and digitized.

"I apologize, Mother. I thought his plan was a fine one," MetalSeadramon groaned as the water sloshed in his body.

"Ugh, come along!" Lady Despair waves her hand, her son picking Sierra up to fly off across the ocean. "Let's purge out that water, and make a new plan."

The gang watched as MetalSeadramon flew off with Lady Despair.

"They left..." Sora said in relief.

"Everything is alright now..." Tai sighed.

"No, it's not..." Mimi stated.

"What?" Tai asked.

"They're not wrong, it was only luck that Sara was able to cast that spell." Yui said.

"Not luck, someone...told it to me, I felt like I was gaining energy from the water," Sara G said. "Like a force was in the water."

"Well, the Dark Spectre queen said she could help us near the water, even if only to send a message." Kylie stated.

"I remember something similar with me and Zaira," Izzy spoke up. "I was tricked and lost myself, causing Tentomon to de-digivolve into Pabumon and he was crying, but in his tears old memories played back and I...remembered everything."

"Yeah, I saw it. The tears floated over to him and glowed purple." Zaira remarked.

"That's right," Kylie said. "And she contacted me through a stream along with Sora, so I fear our chances aren't good. We can't be near water forever, even if we fight against Metalseadramon.

"She's right," Joe said. "We need to really give ourselves a edge, it's not good if we can only fight the dark masters minions if our digimon super evolve, and the fairies have help from a more powerful source."

"We need to learn better spells, and train the digimon to be stronger, even when just adults." Kylie said.

"So it's just like Piximon said… Even with all of us joined together, it's not enough to win…"

"What's that?" Tentomon questioned.

Abruptly the waves began to pick up and the reason breached right out.

"MetalSeadramon!" Tai shouted.

The sea serpent addressed Kylie. "We failed our mother ONCE before you managed to escape her, Kylie. When we tried to conquer this world, a long time ago. But some children, humans, appeared and fought against us."

"So, we're not the first?" Matt looked at the others.

"Hardly." MetalSeadramon sneered. "But they had help, a certain Nymph came to their aid, and banished us, and transformed the average digimon into their holy beast forms."

"My mother?" Kylie gasped.

"Her first act as the Guardian Nymph of the Digital World," The sea serpent hissed. "She repelled our mother and ourselves, and it took us ages to finally return. And we made sure SHE was helpless by sealing away her sons, before we took care of HER."

"Leave this to me. All of you ride on Zudomon's back and get out of here!" Lilimon urged.

"Lilymon!" Mimi yelled.

The flowery digimon flew right towards him before turning and he followed her, giving the group a chance for escape. However the distraction was short-lived.

"Idiots! You think you can escape from me in water?"

"He's gaining on us!" Haruna cried.

"Where's the Mosasaur where you need it?" Dana yelled.

MetalSeaDramon was catching up despite the urgent cries to hurry, Lillymon flew up and belted the serpent in the back of the head with her flower canon. But it bounced off harmless like a rubber ball, and the beast swats Lillymon out of the air with his tail, causing her to turn back into Palmon, who was caught by Mimi and a concerned Yui.

Metalseadramon then sunk under the water, and for a frightful minute, they weren't sure where he was at, or where he'd pop up. Until his sharp horn burst out of the waters, and charged towards the group.

"Here he comes!" Tai cried out.

"OH! IT'S THE MOVIE JAWS!" Theo screamed in terror.

"He's gonna ram us!" Yui cried out.

And indeed, Zudomon was hit hard, and they all fell off into the water, sputtering, and trying to stay afloat while Zudomon faced off against Metalseadramon.

"Raah!" Zudomon rams into Metalseadramon, who was unphased by the attack.

"Ultimate Stream!" The sea king blasted Zudomon, who turns into Gomamon, crashing into Joe.

Metalseadramon laughed wickedly, as he loomed over the water logged fairies and digidestined.

"What are we going to do?" Dana cried out. "We're going to die!"

_~Don't worry, help is coming~_ The voice called out to Sara.

Sara G looked around in surprise, and looking down she gasped as a massive dark shadow formed underneath them. And something burst forth out of the Ocean, covered in a sparkling purple, glittering aura. It was the whale Digimon who had carried them to Server Continent after they had beaten Devimon on File Island — Whamon.

The whale digimon crashed into MetalSeadramon, who cried out in surprise, and pain as he was sent crashing backwards into the water.

"We're saved! Whamon will protect us in his body!" Tai shouts as Whamon swallowed them into his mouth.

"Pinocchio!" Beth called out, slightly hysterical from the relief of being saved.

Metalseadramon fumed as he writhed on the water, the magical attack hurting him badly, unused to being hurt in such a manner. He finally was able to rise above the water, only to not see Whamon anywhere.

"Ahhh! You cursed Fairies, wretched digidestined and your digimon will pay for this!" Metalseadramon fumed.

~_Ahahahaha! In the sea, I highly doubt that, little worm~_ The voice that spoke to Sara G called out mockingly.

"HUH!? Who said that!?" Metalseadramon looked around, but nowhere could he see anything. Just hear the laughter.

"You Chosen Children and your Digimon… You won't escape!" MetalSeadramon roared.

* * *

The heroes were all on Whamon's back, feeling the wind in their hair and the seagulls flying overhead.

"Thanks for saving us back there, Whamon!" Beth praised.

"I thought we were finished!" Izzy admitted.

"I'm just glad that all of you are safe." Whamon informed.

"I can't believe this all happened during the 2-3 days we were fighting Myotismon in Odaiba," Piyomon said, her face pensive.

Izzy said, "That's not so. The flow of time is different between this world and our world. If, for example, we are to consider that one minute in the Earth is one day in this world, it would mean that a considerable number of days or even years have passed."

"Eight years if these calculations are correct." Sara G said, doing a quick equation.

"Hey, Whamon. What do you think we should do to beat the Dark Masters?" Matt asked.

"Why did they rearrange the Digimon world?" Sora also questioned.

"Unfortunately, I don't know much about this topic." Whamon sadly said. "When I first sense the changes, the Digiworld was already a chaos. That was when MetalSeadramon took control of the oceans."

"Damn that MetalSeadramon!" Tai slammed his fist down onto Whamon's back.

"Onii-chan… cheer up!" Kari hugged him.

"Yeah… You're right!" He recovered. "Chin up, everyone!"

"Yeah!"

"Yes, let's all keep our spirits up. I don't know if there are any safe places left in this world, but there ought to be one that MetalSeadramon cannot reach." Whamon explained.

"How'd you even know to come find us?" Kylie asked.

"I heard the voice of the sea witch," Sara G spoke up, and she pats Whamon. "He must have heard it too."

"Oh yes, I heard a voice. Didn't know it was a witch," Whamon said curious. "But she told me where to find you."

"It has to be Vanessa," Zaira said. "With the water, she's able to focus her powers here to aid us."

"But for how long?" Kylie asked. "The dark masters and Despair, their influence corrupts this place. And due to the Deep Magic Laws, The Dark Spectre Queen can't exude too much influence into this world."

"She'll do her best, no doubt." Dana said hopefully. "She's been there for us before, and we've faced worse odds when just newbies. And we overcame them before, and we'll do so now."

Zaira huffed, and placed her hands on Whamon, and immediately gasped as her eyes flashed with power.

~_In her vision, she saw Spiral Mountain. It had the shadows of the Dark Masters, but when eat of the Masters dies, it fell apart. And a new force appeared, it was massive, horrible and totally destructive.~_

_~The voice of the Sea Witch echoed into her ears.~ ~"It must end, before it begins. And Lady Despair is not the only one to fear. But beware, if you are not prepared, it will be the End of us all!"~_

_~And the massive looming creature turned and everything exploded into nothing~_

Zaira gasped again, more heavily, and stared up to see the concerned faces of the others, looking down at her in alarm.

"Zaira, what happened!?" Beth asked worried.

A couple of hours later, Whamon had had taken the heroes to one of the smaller islands. One in the shape of a crescent moon so that they could rest and find food.

Whamon rested by the bay, Sara G. and the other guardians made sure to keep the large whale's back hydrated so that he wouldn't get sunburn. While Matt played his harmonica, a few of the boys were fishing. Gatomon displayed her fish hunting skills by cutting up to breaching flying fish and having the pieces land neatly on a plate. Palmon tried her luck, using her poison ivy technique she caught an enormous fish that promptly fell on her.

Matt stopped playing his harmonica for a moment, deep in thought.

What's wrong, Matt?" Tai asked.

"I was wondering if we could really beat the Dark Masters."

"Matt, you're having doubts NOW?" Theo asked.

"We've only just begun, and things seemed tough when we had to face the rest of Despair's Tribe." Beth said.

"Despair's Tribe?" Joe asked with a frown.

"Well, I wouldn't call them something as wholesome as 'Family'," Beth said. "But Devimon, Etemon, Myotismon, all of Lady Despairs children came at us, and we held strong, even with overwhelming odds."

"But this isn't just one, it's four." Matt argues. "And there's that witch, sure she can't use her magic when away from the dark masters, but you saw her turn into Myotismon, what's to stop her from turning into other powerful Digimon to gang up on us?"

"Nothing..." Sara spoke up. "Her pride, her hatred, her 'concern' for her children, these are the things which drive her and she'll do anything to obtain her goal."

"I could almost admire her dedication as a mother, if she wasn't so vile, vain, contemptuous and wicked."

"There is a possibility…" Izzy then approached. "With WarGreymon. He can use his Dramon Killer."

"Dramon Killer?"

"What's that?" Tai questioned.

"It's the weapon that is on WarGreymon's arms." Izzy explained, he demonstrated a close up view of Wargreymon's arms until they got a good look at Wargreymon's claws. "According to the Digimon Analyzer, this weapon is highly effective against Dramon-type Digimon. Dramon Killer… If he uses this, we have a chance."

"Great idea! The Dramon Killer, huh? Hey, Agumon! It's your turn to shine!"

They turned and were taken aback at the sight of Agumon eating the large fish Palmon had caught without chewing.

"You can do it…" Tai stammered.

"He must've been VERY hungry." Beth comments awkwardly.

Joe's fishing line began tugging before dragging him right off of Whamon's back and into the waters of the bay.

Then Gomamon's head popped out of the water. "We got trouble!"

"What's the matter, Gomamon?" Joe sighed, disappointed that he hadn't caught a fish.

"The enemy's headed our way!"

"Whaaat?!" Joe yelled in shock.

"The fishes say that they have spotted MetalSeadramon's minions about three-hundred and twenty kilometers behind us." Whamon informed the group.

"What should we do?" T.K. questioned.

"T.K.…" Patamon was unsure.

"They'll be arriving here soon. Everyone, get into my mouth. I will dive down to confuse them." Whamon offered.

They all agreed and retreated inside, once they were all in Whamon dove down into the depths.

* * *

Whamon silently swam through the deep sea in order to avoid the enemy's eyes, but it was impossible to escape surveillance completely. Whamon himself was prepared for this eventuality, but he wasn't expecting them to chase him all the way down to the ocean bottom, where the average Digimon would have been flattened from the hydraulic pressure.  
As far as he knew, only one Digimon was capable of that: One of the Dark Masters. The raging king of the sea, MetalSeadramon.

As the gang was escaping, the various Scubamon were trying to find them, but it was a big ocean, and were having trouble.

"Why can't we find that big lump of blubber?" A scubbamon fumed.

"There's no need to rush," Metalseadramon spoke up. "My mother created me from her blood and sea water, as such I control the entire ocean. No matter where they run to, I'll have them sooner or later."

The arrogant speech of the metal sea serpent was overheard from a golden frame, full length mirror, and a black scaled hand, with webbing and a fin on the back, gripped the frame a little tightly.

"So...think YOU control the Entire Ocean, little Fish?" The silken voice of the sea witch chuckled. "My, such arrogance. Well, we'll just see about that!"

* * *

The inside of Whamon's mouth was like being inside a cathedral. Even the smallest noise echoed noisily. There, the heroic group discussed the various new pieces of information that Whamon told them.

Izzy had several cords running up into Whamon, plugged up into his sensors which were connected to his laptop. Soon enough the ocean floor was on the laptop's screen in full view leaving the others in awe.

"I've linked my laptop to Whamon's sensory information so that it can be transmitted to the screen." explained Izzy.

"Transmitted?" Patamon asked.

"In other words, we're seeing exactly what Whamon is seeing right now."

"That's impressive!" Matt gaped.

"Astonishingly clever!" Haruna nodded.

"Wow!" Mimi stood up taking Palmon's hands. "It's like we're in a submarine!" And she started to swing Palmon around and round in excitement.

"Of course, this can only be done in the Digital World." Izzy added.

_~Kari...Kari..._~

Kari stiffened, and covered her ears, and whimpered a bit.

"Kari?" Kylie exclaimed. "What's the matter?"

"It could be the bends, diving down so deep is intense pressure," Sara stated. "But we should be protected from that inside of Whamon...Ahh!" Sara covered her ears.

Everyone else did too.

"Whoops. I'm sorry! I must have dived too deeply in my haste..." Whamon said. "I'll adjust the atmospheric pressure right now."

Finally the pain of the pressure began to vanish as Whamon released some bubbles out of his blowhole.

"That's much better!" T.K. chirped.

"I'm fine now," Kari said reassuring. "Thank you, Whamon."

_~Kari...Kari, please...listen..._~

But Kari, she still hear something, buzzing in her ear yet she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

"What's that sound?" Piyomon asked.

I hear some buzzing. Theo remarked, pausing to listen intently.

"Everyone keep quiet!" Izzy said nervously.

Everyone remained silent as the buzzing passed over them.

"I think they already left." Gomamon sighed.

"We're not out of danger yet." Whamon warned them. "We'll have to keep quiet for a little longer."

Just then the buzzing came again and they heard a marine digimon shout: "Found him! There's Whamon!"

"Oh no!" Tai cursed. "They found us!"

The Scubamon chased Whamon and his passenger through the waters, then the whale swam into a deep trench which caused some of the scubamon's propulsion packs to crumple.

Izzy quickly caught on. "Water pressure! So this was Whamon's plan!"

"Whamon is a deep-sea Digimon, so water pressure is nothing to him!" Gomamon explained.

"That was brilliant!" Beth exclaimed.

"But Onii-chan… What do we do now?" Hikari questioned.

"We can't stay in the bottom of the ocean forever…" Sora reminded them.

Then Izzy had an idea and whispered into Kari's ear, she nodded brightly and walked a little bit away. She bowed and raised her whistle.

"Ready." she said.

"Do it, please." Izzy nods.

Kari then took a very deep breath blowing into her whistle as hard as she could. The shrill whistle echoed all over the trench before Izzy computer beeped.

"It worked! Thank you, Kari!"

"Sure!" Kari panted, trying to catch her breath.

"I used the reverberations of the sound to find a tunnel up ahead. We may be able to escape through it."

Throughout their underwater journey, they passed through the tunnels into one that had several bright yellow lights twinkling. They almost looked like marine fireflies from their view.

"Wow, pretty!" Kari, Sora, and Mimi said in delight.

Sara G was whistling a soft melody she claimed a little sea creature taught her. Matt spotted the tunnel then there was a sudden movement, something happened.

"Brace yourselves! It's MetalSeadramon!" Whamon yelled.

They all held tight as the whale digimon swam through some tight tunnels and when he finally surfaced they were in a lagoon by the mainland and a bridge. They climbed out of Whamon and looked around appreciatively.

"It's so bright!" Tai grinned.

"Who'd have ever thought the sun could make you feel so good?" Matt sighed.

They all laughed in relief only to be interrupted.

"What's so funny?"

MetalSeadramon breached out of the water. "This is as far as you all go!"

"Everyone, hang onto me!" Whamon cried, before swimming round and round in a circle. "Tidal Wave!" And as a result, the Scubamon that had been hiding in the waters preparing for an underwater ambush were washed away.

Now they could put their idea to work. Tai! Agumon turned to his human partner.

"I'll leave it to you!" Tai nodded. "Let's move to shore and take up battle positions while Agumon is distracting them!"

"Okay!" Matt agreed.

"Then Gomamon and I will cover you!" Joe replied.

We got this! Sara G concurred.

"The waves are subsiding!" Sora observed.

"Agumon, warp-evolve! WARGREYMON!"

WarGreymon flew up towards MetalSeadramon and gave him quick slash across the face.

"I'm made of Chrome Digizoid just like you! You can't hurt me that easily!" snapped the sea-serpent.

Everyone else headed for the shore thanks to Birdramon, Kabuterimon, Garurumon and Ikkakumon.

"Thanks, Whamon!" Tai called out to the whale. "Leave the rest to us!"

"But…!" The whale tried to protest as he still felt that he was a part of this fight.

"You'll just end up being target practice with your size!" Matt explained. "Hurry up and get out of here!"

"Hurry!" Sora insisted.

"I understand!" Whamon finally agreed and dived once more.

The other digimon and the guardians got to work fight off the Scubamon. Wargreymon used his shield as defense only for MetalSeadramon to trap him in his mouth, and as a result was dragged underwater!

"WarGreymon!" Tai shouted.

"Not good! He's at an overwhelming disadvantage in water!" cried Izzy.

"What a fool you are, WarGreymon!"

WarGreymon was struggling to keep from being devoured. "You're finished!"

Sara G knew that attacking MetalSeadramon's body wouldn't make a scratch on him since it was made of the Chrome Digizoid alloy. But then she was struck with a sudden idea: the eyes! Using a beam of energy, she struck MetalSeadramon's left eye without any hesitation.

"RAAAAAAAAARRGH!"

One of MetalSeadramon's eyes was wrecked, the pain had kept him from crushing Wargreymon and giving the latter a chance to escape. Sara G tried to go for the other eye, but she was flung away by the thrashing MetalSeadramon and slammed into the water surface.

"How dare you!" MetalSeadramon opened his giant red mouth to chew her to pieces, but just then, he saw the other guardians with the nymph's Heir from the corner of his working eye. "I'll start with you first! Ultimate Stream!"

Changing targets, he aimed his special attack at them. However, Whamon once again breached out of the waters and slammed into him.

"I'm through playing!" MetalSeadramon in retaliation, launched an Ultimate Stream right through Whamon!

"Whamon!" Everyone shouted.

Then the waters rippled until a giant hand made entirely of seawater held the sea serpent by the snout in place. WarGreymon spun around fast and charged. "Brave tornado!"

Using the long claw like blades – the dramon killers - the greatest weapon that could be possessed by Dramon-type Digimon, and it split MetalSeadramon's body into two from the base of his neck to his tail.

* * *

"NO! NO! NO!" Lady Despair grabs her head, and screams in anguish, Puppetmon and Piedmon rushing to her side.

"Mother!" "Ma!?" They both shouted.

"He's dead!" Lady Despair shook her head, groaning in pain. "He's dead, MetalSeadramon, my child..."

* * *

Yes, they defeated Metalseadramon but a terrible price. Whamon was laying on the beach, wounded and dying, everyone grief stricken. His body was beginning to disintegrate into particles of light starting from his tail, the particles rising up into the sky.

"Chosen Children...Daughter of Sirene, Ethereal Guardians…" Whamon said weakly. "Please...save this world..."

Kylie ran forward with Sara G, and they both hugged the whale, crying.

"No! It's not fair, you can't die!" Kylie sobbed. "How many do we have to lose, before we stop them?"

"If you all die, what's the point of saving the world?" Sara whispered heart brokenly.

"For the next generation, for them to live in safety," Whamon whispered. "And I gladly die, knowing you will save this world..."

"No, don't die..."

Everyone gasped, as the water of the sea glowed brightly, and a giant figure appeared in the water, although transparent like a ghost. It was Vanessa, dressed in a blue, Greek chiton, reaching out with her hands to scoop up Whamon gently. She cradled him close in her arms, stroking the top of his body like a mother, caressing her child.

"Shhh~ Be at peace, you will see them again," Vanessa the Dark Spectre Queen said and her hands glowed around Whamon. "For you will join me in my sea, and continue to protect and save those souls that would be lost on the waves."

Whamon's body then disappeared into a twinkling light that Vanessa held gently before she sank back into the waters.

"To truly die is to be forgotten, and lost to the sands of time. Death for some, is a new life for others," Vanessa said. "Fret not, your friends will be seen again, for Whamon had the benefit of being in my domain. The others will have their new beginnings, on file island, for there is no true death here...only new beginnings."

"Look at that, everyone." Izzy pointed to MetalSeadramon's body, which was dissolving into small particles of data.

"It's happening to MetalSeadramon, too…" Matt said somberly.

And MetalSeadramon's body fully disintegrated, revealing the vial of black blood, floating in the water. Before anyone could react, the water sparkling a deep, bright purple, and the vial was dissolved in the bright purple light.

Just then the ground began to shake. They soon saw why: the ocean section was disappearing from Spiral Mountain. The Ocean, had begun to dissolve, fall apart, and turn into data.

* * *

This turn of events was also being observed by the remaining three Dark Masters and by Lady Despair.

"Just look at that. The ocean is disappearing." Piedmon remarked, knowing the group still had to face them.

"Awww~ Touching."

The waves of sorrow, and resentment over the situation was gathering as a massive cloud, transforming into tendrils of glowing white and blue energy, which Lady Despair eagerly absorbed as Puppetmon sat next to her, nuzzling her arm.

"They mourn now, but all they do is make my powers grow," Lady Despair holds out her hand to examine her black talons. "And soon, I will have their pitiful souls as my tribute to MY fallen children!"

Puppetmon hopped off the bench. "I guess this means it's my turn to fight." He said with a devilish smirk.

**_To be continued…_**


	31. The dangerous game, Puppetmon

Spiral Mountain's ocean area disassembled into data once more and vanished. All that remained from the empty space, where the world of oceans used to be, was the boundary of the world next to it.

Piedmon watched with Lady Despair.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to let him handle his alone?" Piedmon inquired, referring to Puppetmon.

"We're keeping an eye," Lady Despair taps the spot next to her eye. "Plus, he's been so bored, he deserves a little excitement for his good job so far, these past eight years."

* * *

"Spiral Mountain's ocean is returning!" Koromon cried.

The ocean section of Spiral Mountain was vanishing into blue particles and scattering.

"It must be because we beat MetalSeadramon, who ruled over its domain!" guessed Gomamon.

"So the power of darkness controlling it has disappeared!" Izzy concluded, his face had brightened.

"Our victory got rid of the darkness in this world!" Tai excitedly said, with one enemy defeated this brought hope.

"Then let's keep up this pace and defeat the rest of the Dark Masters!" Joe said optimistically.

"That way, peace will return to Earth!" Gatomon reminded them.

"All right, let's go!" Tai declared.

"Yeah!" They all cheered.

"Wait!" Mimi interrupted.

Earlier, Mimi said that she wanted to make graves for Chuumon, Piximon and Whamon, so everyone lent her a hand. Kari said "And one for Wizardmon too," so there was a total of three graves.

The graves were simple structures of small stones gathered up into four piles, with the names of each written with black marker on scrap lumber as the headstones. Everyone was silent except for T.K., who said out loud, "I pray that all three are reborn in the Village of Beginnings."

"All of them were killed trying to protect us." Sora said solemnly.

"They all died." Gatomon acknowledged sadly. "You could even say they were sacrifices to our cause."

"Whamon was always doing things for us but we couldn't do anything!" Mimi whimpered.

They were exhausted. Both physically and in spirit. But they couldn't keep staying like this forever.

"We have to work harder for their sakes, too!" Tai spoke up. "The enemy needs to go down at all costs!"

"I don't want to." Mimi muttered glumly.

"What did you say?"

"I don't want any more of our friends to die! Why do we have to keep fighting?"

"Because they'll go after your parents if you don't." Beth sneered.

"Beth!" Kylie snapped, causing Beth to look at her startled.

"Mimi, it doesn't matter if we don't fight," Kylie said. "Lady Despair is a malicious soul, which I doubt she even has, and she will always go around to cause misery, as will her children till they are stopped."

"What are you talking about? We can avenge their deaths by defeating the enemy!" Tai argued with Mimi

"Stop it!" Mimi covered her ears.

"Tai! Beth!" Matt yelled. "Try to consider other people's feelings for a change! What you say is the right thing for us to do, I'll give you that. But knowing what the right thing to do is doesn't mean we can just push our feelings aside and be done with it!"

"Onii-chan!" T.K. gasped.

"We know in our heads that we should keep moving forward! But there are times when you want to stop and remember those we've lost, isn't there?"

Beth snapped back, "What feelings?! Mimi doesn't care about responsibility or even our friends that died for us! All she wants to leave everyone and everything behind so she won't fight!"

"That's not true at all! I do care!" Mimi wailed.

"Then woman up!" Beth growled then turned to Matt. "And you keep out of this!"

"Beth's got a point! If we keep stopping to do that, we'll never have enough time to save the world!" Tai agreed.

"Everyone knows that! But…!"

"Hey, stop this! Everyone's upset." Sora tried to diffuse the discussion

"Don't cry, Mimi." Palmon consoled her partner.

Yui piped up. "I'm going to have to interrupt this debate: we can't stay here anyway." she then pointed upwards. "Look."

Fluttering around a couple yards away, was a crystal bat, spying on them.

"We're sitting ducks out here." Joe reminded.

Sara pushed herself back up and said casually, "Let's go," as if she were speaking to herself.

"Yes," Kylie said grievously, also standing up.

It was easy to tell from the way they sluggishly stood up that no one felt enthusiastic about what they had to do. None of them stood up briskly. Now that they knew the Dark Masters were their real enemy, this was exactly the time when they needed to band together and fight.

_"It's not wrong of me to act this way, is it?" _Tai began to second guess himself.

_"Do we have no choice in the end but to keep moving on like this? Without ever having a place to rest?" _Matt sulked.

_"I wonder why Onii-chan is like this…" _T.K. worried.

_"At this rate, our feelings of unity will scatter. I have to do something."_ Izzy was also concerned.

_"I need to find a place where we can take a break." _Joe merely stared dead ahead.

_"Everyone's tired."_ Sora observed.

While they were in the tomb room in Myotismon's castle, Matt had accepted Tai as the leader of the Chosen Children. But now, he didn't think so. Would they be able to continue fighting the Dark Masters this way? There was a chance that one indecisive mistake would lead them to digging their own graves. He couldn't trust Tai with this at all!

Dana watched the group for a moment as they all walked into the forest. There was more than one way to mourn the ones who'd fallen. She took a deep breath and began to sing softly.

_"Tsian oo as ae oo-oo am..."_

She elbowed Yui to sing along.

_"Bez a-a-a puy-um tsa."_

"What are you doing?" T.K. whispered.

"Singing a hymn for the ones who are gone... We got it from gelf- well some friends taught it to us." Dana explained.

"We can still mourn our fallen friends as we travel, no harm in it." Haruna agreed.

"I don't feel much like singing..." Mimi mumbled.

"It's a song of mourning. Either way, it won't hurt for you to vocalize the chorus." Sara G replied before singing the next verse.

_"Tsian tse a-oo as ae oo-oo am_

_Bez a-a-a puy-um tsa..."_

Kylie carried the next part with Kari and Gatomon softly vocalizing the notes then T.K. and Patamon followed suit.

_"Nu mi-ami oo-a-be_

_Tso-o-o-am be-na-ub…"_

Before long, most of the children and the digimon were singing along wordlessly to the haunting melody, as an effort to keep moving forward. They continued singing softly then Kari suddenly stopped walking and singing. She was glanced around in surprise. Gatomon walked up. "What is it, Kari?"

"Gatomon, didn't you just hear something?"

"Like what?"

"Like a woman's voice?"

"A voice? No, not at all…"

"Oh…"

"If we don't catch up, we'll lose sight of the others."

As they walked after the others, a sparkle of light seemed to form over where Kari once stood, and a voice is heard singing. ~_Constant as the stars above...~_

* * *

Within the forest was a mansion made out of toy building blocks, the group was being watched on a TV belonging to Puppetmon.

"It's dangerous, so don't wander off on your own." Tai was rebuking Kari.

"I'm fine."

"It'd be better if they were here already… I'm getting tired of waiting for them." Puppetmon complained.

"It's natural, since they're very foolish." A Kiwi type digimon (Kiwimon) replied.

"They're taking too long!" Then Puppetmon promptly held up a remote and pressed a red round button on the top right corner.

* * *

While the group is walking, the scenery appeared to be running past them

"Hey, what's this?" Beth stared.

They all stopped walking in surprise.

"I don't know the trees look like they're passing by fast." Kari commented.

"What's going on here?" Joe asked.

Izzy looked downwards to see the forest path is moving while everything else remained. "The ground that we're standing on is moving us forward!" He informed.

* * *

Puppetmon laughed, delighting in what he was seeing on the TV.

"I really have to thank Mama properly for these gifts," Puppetmon laughed. "Hey, think gift wrapping the Chosen ones' broken bodies would be enough?"

"I'm sure it would delight her, no matter how you present them, My Lord." Kiwimon said with a nervous glance at the Dark Master.

* * *

Everyone was crying out in alarm.

"Ahhh~" TK cried out.

"T.K.!" Zaira leaps forward and catches the younger boy, only to gasp as her eyes flashed lavender. She was receiving another premonition.

In the vision, it showed the forest, and then a large shadow, with strings coming from his fingers, controlling puppets of the heroes and fairies. But then one marionette appeared, and it was of the dark Spectre queen, with a blue, sapphire tear drop on her cheek.

~_Your friendship will be how you succeed, Zaira_~ The puppet spoke forlornly. _~It is friendship the puppet lacks, and it is your strength to his weakness~_

~_But be warned, for you children's greatest test might come from one of your own._~ And suddenly, the shadow of Metalgarurumon appeared, and leaps across the scene, slicing the strings of the puppets. Causing them all to fall far away from each other, and shatter into pieces on the ground.

Zaira screams, covering her face in alarm as she falls backwards.

"Zaira, T.K.!" Matt hurried over with concern. "Are you alright?"

Quickly the group jumped off the moving path. Only for the section to start moving forward as well! They all had the same thought: most likely it was taking straight to the enemy.

* * *

Back at his mansion, Puppetmon was still searching through his toy chest looking for more destructive objects.

"They're taking a while…" He'd pulled out an- old fashioned grappler that attached with it's rubber grip around Kiwimon's head. "Are they here yet or what?"

"My Lord Puppetmon. There's no sign of the children or the guardians anywhere."

"What did you say?!" Puppetmon pulled him aside and ran to the screen.

In effect, there was sign of the Chosen children, their digimon nor the guardians anywhere.

* * *

The reason for it was due to the fact that the group had taken to the trees.

"Think this could be one of the Dark Master's dominion?" Sora wondered.

"It's very likely." Izzy confirmed.

"We were walking straight towards the enemy's trap all this time." Joe feared, clutching the tree.

"But the question is which one?" Beth questioned. "That's what I'd like to know."

"Zaira, can you get a bead on him, or..." Kylie paused, seeing Zaira rubbing at her head. "What's wrong?"

"I had a vision, I..." Zaira shakes her head. "I saw the Dark Master Puppetmon, this must be his doing."

"Oh great," Theo exclaimed. "The one that we were told 'luuuvs his mama' and is utterly sadistic when it comes to those that insult, or offend her!" she gestures wildly at Kylie. "And we've got the biggest pet peeve of the Queen of Darkness, right here!" Theo looks down from the tree somberly. "I wonder if a fall from this height will be enough to kill me...?"

"But we've got to face him sooner or later. It's the same result either way!" Tai reminded.

"We all know that!" growled Matt. "You don't have to repeat it, you know!"

"Onii-chan!" T.K. tried to calm his older brother. "Stop fighting!"

"T.K.…"

"If we keep avoiding them, we'll just get slaughtered one day. Let's go find the enemy's base!" Tai insisted.

"Can't you just wait?!"

"Onii-chan!" T.K. pleaded.

"For what? For him to just come and get us?!" Beth snapped back.

Dana then piped up with false cheer, "Here's an idea: Why don't you go back home alone with Mimi only without Palmon and Gabumon, and WE fight the bad guys?"

Before Matt could retort, Tai and Beth suddenly disappeared from sight!

"Beth!"

"Tai!"

"Onii-chan!"

Abruptly, Yui and Mimi vanished too. Two by two each of the guardians and the chosen children disappeared from sight except for Matt and T.K. However each of the vanished ones kept finding themselves in different sections of the forest with one or two of their comrades

"Wh-What happened?" Sora asked.

Izzy was on a log trying to keep his balance. "Our enemy must be behind this!"

"It's cold…" Joe was standing in muddy puddle. Dana and Kari had appeared next to him.

* * *

Back in the trees only the brothers remained still shocked by the sudden disappearances.

"They're all gone!" yelled Matt.

"Why? How did this happen?" The young blonde questioned.

"I don't know. Our enemy must have done something to them."

"What?"

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. Stay close to me."

The little boy looked into his older brother's eyes questioningly, "Onii-chan… We were able to get this far because we all worked as a team and we'll defeat the enemy. But why am I the only one you keep giving special treatment to?"

Matt was stunned by his younger brother's questioning. "T.K.…"

"I've fought alongside the rest of you all this time too! So all this you think I'm a burden? Am I so unreliable that you keep saying you'll protect me?"

"T.K.… That's not what I meant… I… What I wanted to say is…"

Yet T.K.'s words had left him unsure of his answers.

* * *

Joe had correctly guessed that this was Puppetmon's doing. With the aid of his Mother Lady Despair, he had a map and little dolls of the heroes that worked as well as voodoo dolls

"Children, fairies disappearing~" Puppetmon was singing cheerfully as he had the group all scattered by the voodoo dolls.

"Hey, Kiwimon, this is taking too long," Puppetmon said sulking. "I should kill them all at once."

"Then you'd have no one to play with," Kiwimon reminds him. "And the mad artist did ask you to leave her at least three for herself, so she could have fun."

"Ah, that's right, I did promise Mama," Puppetmon grins as he picks up the figure of Kylie, and grins maliciously. "But Mama would not mind if I play before she had...HER CHANCE!"

Puppetmon yells, before he begins to bend the doll in his hand, it contorts like it's made of clay, but for the one he's bending the doll of...it wasn't a pleasant experience.

* * *

"Ahhhhh!"

Beth and Tai turned their heads in alarm, Kylie had fallen to the floor, and was screaming in agony. Kylie was doubled over, clutching at her stomach, while she wailing in horrible suffering.

"Kylie!" Tai rushed over in horror. "Kylie, what's the matter!?"

"It hurts!" Kylie gasped desperately. "IT HURTS! I FEEL LIKE I'M BEING SNAPPED IN HALF!"

* * *

Puppetmon picks up the Dana doll, and snickers as he pulls out a plastic container full of slime, and smashes it into the slime.

"AhHH! HELP!" Dana screams.

"Dana!" Kari and Joe cry out in alarm. As the mud puddle Joe had crashed into, Dana suddenly appeared, and was sinking into the mud.

"I'm sinking!" Dana yelled out in alarm.

"Don't panic, don't panic!" Joe said in fretting tone.

"I'm panicking, cause I'm sinking!" Dana snaps.

Kari grabs her hand, and so does Joe.

Puppetmon laughed, as he sunk the doll up to the waist into the slime, and Dana sinks into the mud up to her waist.

"Pull me out, hurry!" Dana pleads.

"We're trying!" Kari grits as she pulls hard.

"You're not budging!" Joe said in heavy concern.

But the doll was sunk until it reached its neck in the slime, and so was Dana.

"GOD! SOMEONE HELP US!" Joe yelled. His hands and Kari's were sucked into the mud, trying to pull a sobbing Dana out of the mud.

"I have to find help!" Kari said and moved to leave.

"Please! Please!" Dana was weeping. "Don't leave me, don't leave me alone!"

"It's okay!" Joe is on his belly, frantically trying to keep Dana's head above the mud. "It's okay, I'm not going to leave you."

Puppetmon just kept cackling, but he didn't stick the doll into the slime further, leaving the poor younger Pantheon trapped in the mud trap.

"Oh, listen to her screams," Puppetmon was wiping a tear of laughter away. "Oh, Mama will love this fear and panic." Puppetmon smirks at Kiwimon. "Who should I pick on next?"

Kiwimon nudges the Joe doll, so Puppetmon pulls out his slingshot, and shoots the doll with a ball bearing.

"Ahh!" Joe yells out, turning onto his side as he felt the pain, laying on the dirt next to Dana still trapped up to her neck.

"Joe?! Joe!" Dana gasped in surprise.

"Joe are you okay?" Kari asked him

"My stomach!"

"Does your stomach hurt?"

"Something shot my stomach!"

Kari gasped fearfully. Would something come after her next?

* * *

Then he began moving Tai and Kari around before moving the guardians. Now Joe was with Mimi and Haruna.

Next, Puppetmon picked up Theo and had her spin around fast as though she were on one of the revolving chairs. Theo found herself spinning around fast, by time it stopped, she was dizzy.

"Uhhh...my head won't stop spinning." she groaned.

* * *

"Also, when I do this…" Puppetmon had Tai's doll which he oved upside down.

This has the boy turn upside down and caused him to fall one foot from where he was floating.

"Ouch!"

* * *

He then dropped Beth's doll onto a tree on the mat, this causes Beth to be slammed abruptly against one herself.

The redhead teen touched her head. "I think that's gonna leave a mark..."

* * *

Puppetmon picked up Zaira and dropped her doll before catching it. While Zaira had to endure nearly falling and stopping just a few inches from the ground.

Dana reappeared in a clearing with Joe. Then Puppetmon picked up the T.K. doll and began tickling it. The little boy was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"Are you okay, T.K.?" Joe questioned before Matt appeared in his place.

"Onii-chan!"

"T.K." Matt hugged his little brother.

Beth then appeared, holding her head.

"Beth!" Dana was relieved to see her older sister.

* * *

Back in the toy mansion, Puppetmon made a decision.

"I think I'll play with those two first." Puppetmon pointed to T.K. and Dana "They look fun to pick on."

"Shall I bring them here?" Kiwimon offered.

"Nah. I'll go get them myself." He responded, sliding down the fire pole and heading out into the forest.

* * *

Meanwhile Beth, Dana were with Matt and T.K. in a forest clearing. Dana reassured her she was fine except for a little mud she almost sank in, which Beth helped remove from the younger girls' clothes using a simple spell.

"T.K., are you okay?" Matt asked his little brother.

"I think so…" T.K. was explaining. "But I suddenly felt something tickling me and I couldn't stop laughing. Maybe something's wrong with me."

"Are you sure you're not hurt?"

T.K. chides his older brother. "Stop worrying about me so much! I can take care of myself now!"

"T.K…." Matt was a little hurt.

"Let's go play!" A voice echoed around the forest.

Beth and Dana hugged each other briefly in alarm. "What was that?"

"T.K., be careful." Matt told his brother.

"Let's go play!"

"The voice is getting closer!" T.K. said nervously.

Suddenly two familiar hands cover T.K.'s eyes and something startles Dana. When they all spun around - it was Puppetmon!

"Let's play!"

Matt and Beth went in front of their siblings to protect them. "I won't let you hurt Dana, you cheap Pinnochio knock-off!"

"Just try and lay a finger on T.K. again, you won't get away with it!"

"So you're called T.K. and Dana." He then winked childishly, "Hey, join me in a game of war."

"Game?" asked T.K., he stepped out from behind Matt momentarily. "Like…pretend?"

"Oh, is that all?" Dana questioned, relief flooding her voice. "I've . . . never played with . . . a guy."

"Sure. Here, I'll let you use this!"

He tosses what looked to be a gun towards T.K., who drops it and it goes off making him and Dana scream in alarm.

"This is an actual gun! We could die if I played with this thing!"

"But of course! Dying like a true blue is what makes it more fun." Puppetmon replied as if it wasn't that big a deal, "But don't worry I won't let you two off that easily. If I got rid of you now it wouldn't be much fun!"

Naturally, T.K. looks horrified, Dana gulped nervously. With that binding potion still working there was no chance of her or T.K. surviving such a dangerous game.

"Don't listen to what he's saying!" Matt urged them.

"Dana, you don't have to do this it's your choice!"

"You stay out of this!" Puppetmon threw a red ball at Matt and Beth, so that they were bound in red strings.

The little boy and girl rushed to their older siblings. Puppetmon rushed up to the younger ones in turn cheerfully. "Come on, let's go play!"

"I don't want to!"

"No way!" Dana snapped, stomping her foot.

"You won't?" Puppetmon said a little too calmly then he put his hands on his hips and looked up to his right as if thinking, "It won't be any fun if you don't come so I'll just… get rid of them instead." he said pointing to the infuriated Beth and Matt.

T.K. blanched.

"No!" Dana cried with a gasp.

"Then you're coming, right?"

Beth and Matt protest but Puppetmon silences them by adding another wrapping around their mouths.

"We'll go." T.K. says grimly, "We just have to follow you right?"

"That's what I like to hear!"

When the two were lead into the house, they were surprised a Dark Master would have a home like this. Puppetmon was smiling broadly, as he waved his arms around to gesture at his house.

"Do you like it? Mama made it for me, when I took over this part of the digital world," Puppetmon giggles. "And she gave me all the toys, and digimon to play with too."

Dana looked around uneasy. "You mean 'Lady Despair?' So, like...what's it like, being born from her blood?"

Puppetmon turned and look at her with one eye shut in confusion.

"What a stupid question, I didn't exist. And then I did, and Mama was here from the start, so she was Mama," Puppetmon spins on the tip of his toe, causing Dana and T.K. to jerk as he still has a gun in his hand.

"And she's the most beautiful mama in the whole world, all of them! And she plays with me, and gives me lots of presents." Puppetmon beams. "She's really the best!"

"So, why don't you play with her?" T.K. asked. "She sounds lots more fun." said this hoping Puppetmon would let them go, and they would be safe.

Puppetmon stops and pouts. "She's been so depressed lately, which is good as it makes her magic stronger," The wicked puppet said drooping his shoulders a bit. "But with Big Brother Myotismon, and MetalSeadramon gone so soon. She doesn't want to play as much."

They look surprised seeing this terrible and powerful digimon sad, but then he straightens up and they lean back in worry.

"But that's gonna end now, cause she said she'd come play with me today," Puppetmon said smiling and waving. "I told her I had my new toys, the Digidestined and the Fairies! And she was all excited to come and help me play."

This caused T.K. and Dana to shiver in horror.

"Lady Despair is coming here!?" Dana choked out in horror.

"Yeah! But first I wanted to play with you first, so I could be sure you're not boring for her." Puppetmon leered.

The lethal game had started out simply at first. Puppetmon let them get a head start, yet T.K. had trouble carrying the gun and Dana didn't even want to touch the firearm out of personal principles.

"BANG!" Puppetmon shouts, pointing a 0.44 magnum at them both.

Simultaneously, T.K. flinched, his hair standing on end and Dana shrieked, her green eyes contracting with terror - fearing for T.K.

But they calm down a little when a sardonic Puppetmon tells them "Hurry up and run, this is getting boring." he huffed. "And if you're boring, then I won't let you stay around for Mama to play, I'll simply throw you two in the trash furnace."

"O-okay!"

The two ran down the hall. Now Dana didn't dare try to transform, she was afraid Puppetmon might use this as an excuse to harm T.K.

* * *

Back on Spiral Mountain, Lady Despair was seen in front of a vanity, covered in blood red candles with blue flames, and pictures of her children. As she applies some black lip gloss on her lips, and examines her nails.

"Mother, where are you going?" Machinedramon asked.

"I'm going to see Puppetmon in the forest," Lady Despair said as she picked up a crystal skull shaped perfume bottle, she turned it upside down and then pulled out the stopper to put on her neck.

"I was asked to come have fun with him," Lady Despair said. "And it's been too long since I've had fun with my darling ones."

"And do you always dress up so when going for playtime?" Piedmon asked, chuckling as he tosses and catches a dagger in his hand.

"Oh, that's due to the little earth pukes and pixies being there," Lady Despair grins maliciously into the mirror. "I want to look my best, as Puppetmon plays them to their death."

Sierra blows out the candles, and laughs, as it's revealed the candles were showing her reflection as she appeared to others. But in the mirror, she was repulsive, her face appearing like hamburger meat, with dried up clumps of hair, barely attached to her skin, and fungus like matter clogging up her eyes.

"One must show their best face forward, even to their enemies." Lady Despair smirks as she picks up her scepter.

* * *

The two run off passing by an oversized carnivorous plant and mushroom Digimon to hide behind some old shelves.

Soon after they hear: "Hey, did Dana and TK come in here?"

"Oh, if you mean the boy and girl they're hiding between those shelves." the large mushroom replied to their master.

"Really? OK, come out with your hands up!"

TK and Dana just barely managed to slip behind the door and witness Puppetmon destroy his own henchmen much to their horror.

"I see you, you're up there!"

They were running but then Puppetmon cuts them off and starts shooting at their feet making them jump fearfully. Thankfully he ran out of bullets.

Dana bit her lip, her mind reeling. Think, what would your friends do in this situation? And some words she remembered came flooding back: _Be cunning and full of tricks._

T.K. seemed to be getting some ideas too for he mouthed to Dana "_Play along_." He stood up and said, "This is no fun at all!"

Dana, catching on, adds, "I'm tired of the same thing happening over and over."

"We didn't expect find out you're a boring person."

"No one's ever told me that before!" Puppetmon gasped, he looked affronted.

"Oh it's because you don't have any friends isn't it?" T.K. says connivingly.

"Heeey, that's right? Where are they?" Dana says with a sly smile worthy of El-ahrairah.

"I do too have friends." Puppetmon says softly,

"Your mother, and brothers don't count." Dana coldly points out.

"I do! I do too!" Puppetmon said agitated.

"Then why don't you let us meet them?"

"Now's… not a good time…"

"Ah, I bet you don't have friends at all!" T.K. grinned.

"I do! I'll go get one of them right now, so wait here!"

Soon as he was gone Dana smiled "That was just brilliant!"

"T.K.! Dana!" a warmly familiar voice spoke.

"Patamon!"

Quickly he led them to smallest Dark Master's playroom where the two children take the dolls, destroy the remote control and the map. Dana took particular pleasure in tearing up the map.

"That's the last of it! Let's get out of here while we can!" Dana urged them.

"Right!"

Quickly they slid down the fire pole then dashed out the front door to join the others. They didn't even notice that they'd passed by two plant digimon in the shrubbery.

"Those are Lord Puppetmon's new toys." A flower Digimon, Floramon observed.

"We shouldn't get involved in this mess." A digimon bird with a flower bush for a train called a Deramon commented.

"Let's pretend we didn't see him."

"Right."

* * *

Meanwhile the others had found Matt and Beth, Gabumon freed them. Though the former was distressed about his captured brother. Not a minute later, they were faced with Kiwimon who intended to keep them from interrupting Puppetmon's fatal game with Dana and T.K.

It was quite a struggle then Piyomon became Birdramon, who unleashed the finishing blow on Kiwimon. But Matt was upset. "Look at what you've done! Now we don't know where T.K. is!" He yelled.

Tai had to hold him back and Theo actually smacked the back of his head.

"Knock it off! We'll find them!"

And to their surprise, both Dana and T.K. were seen running over towards them. "Hey, you guys!"

"T.K.!" Matt shouted.

"Dana!" Kylie and Beth yelled in relief.

"We know where Puppetmon's hideout is and found out what was causing all that crazy stuff!" Dana informed.

"I was able to protect myself all on my own this time!" T.K. told them, "Well, Dana was with me but we did a pretty good job handling it."

"Hey, good for you!" Theo gave him a thumbs up.

"You're amazing!" Kari said.

"That's awesome, T.K.! You did great!" praised Tai.

"We were so worried about you!" Mimi admitted.

"You sure grew up without us even realizing it!" Joe said.

T.K. rubbed the back of his head. "Stop it, guys, you're embarrassing me! We also busted the weird gadgets that made the ground move and stuff, too! Just like Dana said!"

"Show them the dolls." Dana said.

T.K. immediately pulled out the dolls. "Everything's all right now! Puppetmon was manipulating us with these dolls."

"This is me?" Tai commented. "I don't look anything like it!"

"Well at least this would explain a lot about us appearing and disappearing." Sara G acknowledged.

"Although Mimi's doll is pretty." Sora remarked.

"No way! I'm not this ugly! But… I'll keep it as a souvenir anyway!" Mimi answered yet she and Sora ended up laughing.

"Show, show us~" Palmon and Piyomon begged to see.

However they soon saw that someone was missing from their group.

"Huh? Where's my brother?" T.K. asked.

"I saw Matt go over there just…" Joe pointed before looking confused. "H-Huh…?"

* * *

Back in the house, Puppetmon discovered what happened in the playroom. Puppetmon looked at the busted remote in his hand, the torn up forest map, his dolls from Mama stolen and the TV smashed. The answer was clear: He'd been tricked.

"So they don't like playing with me, huh? I see. I get it." His face downcast, hurt, and angry.

As his body trembled a visible mist of green despair, red pain, crimson anger and dark purplish hate poured from his body. Which was sucked up as a pair of arms wrapped around his body, and hugged him close.

"My poor sweet thing, what has you so negative today?" The voice of Despair cooed.

Puppetmon turned, and buried his face in her torso, wailing unhappily into his Mother's torso.

"MAMA! That Meanie T.K.! He...He destroyed my toys, and took my dolls!" Puppetmon sobbed.

Lady Despair patted him in comfort, unconcerned with his Pinocchio nose poking into her gut, as she was invulnerable except for her neck.

"Shhh~ My Dear, sweet little pine sapling," Lady Despair shushes, kissing him on the top of his head. "Mama will get you better toys."

"I don't WANT 'better toys.'" Puppetmon whined. "I want those dolls back, and I want to make both T.K. and Dana PAY!"

Lady Despair grins, and caresses his face, wiping away the sap tears pouring from his eyes.

"If that's what my little one wants, then it's what he'll get." Lady Despair promises.

"And that mean pixie, Dana said...she said you were my mom, so you weren't my friend." Puppetmon huffed with wet breaths.

"Oh, that's not true, a boy's best friend is his mother," Lady Despair said while fuming inwardly at what Dana had said.

"Then if I can't have friends, then I'll take away all of theirs!" Puppetmon shouted in anger and hurt.

**_To be continued…_**


	32. Conflict in the forest

Matt did not look back. It wasn't that he had a place in mind to go, more like he wanted to get away from there as far as possible. Gabumon frantically chased after him.

_Well… Well, there was no helping that, was there? We may be brothers by blood, but we aren't living together.__  
The T.K. that I know is the baby T.K. from when we lived together as a family. T.K. is a crybaby, who's extremely shy around other people, and who would always hide behind my back whenever someone came to visit. That small T.K. . That cute T.K. who always begged to hear my harmonica…  
He's in the second grade now.  
But the T.K. that's within me is still the baby from back then. He hasn't grown up at all.  
No… The one who hasn't grown up here is me.  
Ever since we came to the Digital World, T.K. has changed from being a crybaby to a stronger person day by day. He even overcame Angemon's death to become a worthy fighter who holds up his own now, without dragging anyone else down. He handled himself on his own in the Village of Beginnings, even without me around.  
That's right.  
He doesn't need me. Compared to him, I'm… I'm…_

Lady Despair was pacing in front of some trees, and Puppetmon was held in her arms as she petted his head and snuggled him close.

"So, that's what I want you to do," Lady Despair orders. "They mocked my children, they killed my children, and now made Puppetmon feel like he has no friends."

Lady Despair shuts her eyes, and strokes at Puppetmon's head, who just snuggles into her arms silently, and lets her suck out the negative emotions.

"So, I want you to take away their friendship," Lady Despair states. "And to do that, we go for the wielder of the crest of friendship, and I know you are the only one I can count on to turn him against his friends."

Lady Despair turns with a sinister smile.

"That is what I want, Old One. Do this for me, and I'll see to it you are rewarded."

The words reached out to a large tree, but then it moved, and revealed itself to Lady Despair.

"It shall be done, My Mad Artist."

* * *

In the meantime, the group had gone from celebrating T.K.'s bravery and Dana's cunning to trying to find where Matt and Gabumon had run off to. Kari continued hearing a mysterious voice but knew it didn't belong to Matt or any of their foes.

"The Digivice isn't reacting." Izzy informed. "It doesn't seem to be functioning properly within these woods."

"I think we should take a break somewhere and wait for him." Gatomon said. "Everyone wants to be alone once in a while."

"No, we have to find Matt." Tai refused. "We're useless unless we're all together!"

"He's got a point." Zaira acknowledged.

"But everyone is tired." Joe told him. "Why don't we sit down around here and rest our legs?"

"Just because we be together and fight… Everyone else has to die…" Mimi grumbled under her breath.

"Mimi…" Palmon tried to comfort her human partner.

"A fact, I couldn't be happier to agree with..."

The group gasped, crying out in alarm, as they looked up, and spotted Lady Despair, sitting on the tip of a tree with Puppetmon resting on her shoulders in piggyback ride.

"Hey, T.K., Dana! I'm so happy to see you," Puppetmon said with a grin.

"Well, we're not!" T.K. shouts up.

Dana added, "And we're not gonna play with you anymore, you can forget it!"

"That's right!" Patamon chimed in.

"You stay away from my little sister!" Kylie shouts up at them. "It's bad enough what you did to my original family, my mother, my holy beast brothers, my father..."

"Your father!?" Lady Despair cuts her off with a surprised look. "Why Kylie, I knew next to nothing about him, if I did he would've been kept for torment."

Kylie shuts her mouth in surprise. "So, you didn't..."

Lady Despair laughs. "Oh, I wish that I had but he was gone long before I took care of your mother," Lady Despair states. "I never could find much about him, some say he was a digimon from another server, another digital world all together which was cut off from this world after your mother's death."

Sierra's scepter appears in hand, pointed at the group threateningly.

"I don't know, and I don't care, except for the indignity you've brought on my poor little sprout!" Lady Despair makes a kissing face as she pats Puppetmon's head.

"YOU HAVE ANGERED ME, DANA PANTHEON!" Lady Despair hissed, her face contorting in anger.

She spins her scepter with both hands, and a darkness falls upon the forest, causing everyone to look about in alarm.

~_Oh slumbering servants in the mists of the Earth, rise up now, and put an end to these wretched fools!_~

The shadows of the trees simmered like smoke, and revealed glowing yellow eyes as they morphed into big, hulking beasts.

"NOW! MY SHADOW DEMONS, END THESE WRETCHED BRATS!" Lady Despair orders.

"YEAH! PLAYTIME IS OVER!" Puppetmon shouts.

The creatures roar, and charge towards the group, where the beasts just stumble backwards from a bright flash as the fairies were transformed. The kids ran for cover, except for Mimi, who was just standing still.

She then looked up angrily. "I'm not scared of some stupid shadows! Just leave us alone already!"

Immediately, Sora and Haruna reached over to grab the younger girl by her arms and pull her into the underbrush just as one of the shadow demons left a large claw mark where Mimi had been standing just seconds earlier.

"Agni's Anger!" Theo chanted, and formed two balls of fire in the form of spiked balls on chains.

She whirled around and struck several of the Shadow Demons, but they were impervious to the attack.

"What the!?" Theo gasped in shock.

"Harpoon Vulcan!" Ikkakumon roared.

"Meteor Wings!" Birdramon squawks as she flaps her wings to send her fire balls down.

"Electro Shocker!" Kabuterimon roared and hurled a ball of electricity at the creatures.

"Mega Flame!" Greymon belted a ball of fire at the demons too.

"Naiad Strike!" Sara chants, aiming to shoot her attack.

But the attacks hit the beasts, who shrugged it off with a merciless laugh.

"Our attacks have no effect on them!" Beth gasped in shock.

"It makes sense," Izzy spoke up. "The digital world is riff with misery, Lady Despair's powers are near absolute with Puppetmon here!"

The Shadow Demon's charged, one shoulder charged into Greymon, sending him flying backwards, with the children crying out in alarm as they ran to avoid being stepped on. The other brutes looked up, and yellow beams shot out of their eyes, striking Kabuterimon and Garudamon. The two digimon turning back into Motimon and Yokomon.

"Yes, get them my pets!" Lady Despair cackled.

The kids yelled in alarm, as the shadow demons attacked.

"Kari!" Kylie grabbed the young girl and pulled her to the side.

"Dana!" Patamon quickly fluttered over and knocks her and T.K. to the side to avoid a swipe from a brute shadow demon.

"Rip them to shreds like a paper doll!" Puppetmon cheers.

"Needle Spray!" Togemon shouted, and fired off several needles.

But the needles just bounced off the demons.

"Nothing seems to effect these creatures!" Beth shouts.

"Starlight beam!" Yui fired beams at the demons, who roared in agony.

The beam went straight the demons.

"Oh!" Lady Despair jerks in surprise.

"Oh, my magic hurt them..." Yui said in surprise.

"Of course," T.K. perked up. "If their shadows, light hurts them."

"And where there's angels," Gatomon grins.

"There's light shining!" Patamon declared.

The two quickly digivolved, and became Angemon and Angewomon.

"UGH! Not you two miserable bugs!" Lady Despair shrieks.

"Arrr! They're going to ruin our fun!" Puppetmon whines.

"Not if mama can help it." Lady Despair said and leaps through the air.

"BANSHEE CRY!" Lady Despair opens her mouth, and unleashed a sonic cry that struck at the group, scattering them apart.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon fired a blast at Lady Despair.

"Ahh!" Lady Despair barely dodges the beam.

"Stifle it, Witch Queen!" Togemon runs up, and upper cuts Despair.

The sorceress is startled, and flies backwards into a tree.

"Mama!" Puppetmon yells.

Lady Despair wipes at her face to wipe off leaves that fell from tree onto her face.

"Oh, time for some weed killer!" Lady Despair hissed, and reached out towards Togemon.

A burst of vines exploded to strangle and entangle the cactus digimon.

"Hang on!" Kylie cried. "Deity blades!"

A sharp swipe at the vines cut her loose. Allowing Togemon enough time to become Lilymon.

"There's still more of us!" She declared flying upwards and firing her flower cannon.

"Girls, let's regroup and use the convergence attack - I got a crazy idea!" Beth called top the other guardians.

"We're on it!" Haruna replied.

"Flower Canon!" Lilymon former her blossom canon and shot at Despair. She twirled her scepter and negated the attack.

"Die you miserable bloom!" Lady Despair crosses her arms and her eyes glow blood red. "Death Vision!"

Lady Despair's shadow morphed into a grim reaper shape and swirled around Lilymon, who screamed in pain, suffering worse than when exposed to Myotismon Nightmare Claw.

"LILYMON!" Mimi cries out in horror, despairing over the sight of her digimon partner being hurt.

Finally the girls put Beth's plan into action: they formed together back to back in a circle, then shot their attack for them to blend before spinning - they caused bits of their attack to scatter around them to obliterate the shadows demons until only one remained.

"Cocytus Breath!"

MetalGarurumon's attack was shouted out, the power passed through the icy breath and onto the remaining shadow demon finishing it.

Matt then walked out from behind a tree looking grim.

"Matt!" Sora exclaimed.

"Arrrr!" Lady Despair growls. "I thought you'd be elsewhere, but no matter, ill deal with you like the others."

"Vines entwine!" Haruna chants.

Vines burst from the ground as Despair aims her scepter at Matt, and entangled her in their grasp.

"Enough of your petty tricks!" Lady Despair shouts.

But Yui felt something come over her, and her eyes closed bright golden, as she formed a triangle over her eyes with her hands.

"HELIOS RAY!" Yui shouts.

A super nova beam of light exploded in the shape of a sun from around Yui eyes, and struck Lady Despair right in the face.

"AHHHHH! My eyes! I can't see!" Lady Despair grabs at her eyes.

"Mama!" Puppetmon shouts and hurries to her side.

But she shoves him to the side, screaming and groaning in pain as she runs away, Puppetmon hurrying after her, while calling out in alarm.

"At last, we can catch our breath." Haruna sighed. "For now."

"Amazing. Is that a new spell, Yui?" Dana asked.

"It must be...I guess I'm close to reaching the new level." Yui said lowering her arms.

"Knowing Despair, it won't hold her off for too long." Theo remarks.

* * *

"That damn starlight fairy," Lady Despair almost whimpers, as Puppetmon holds up a small chest which Sierra reaches into and pulls out some dried up herbs. "Inflicting such a devastating attack, and against me! Ouch! Ah! Oh, that stings..." Sierra gasps as she pressed the herbs to her eyes, letting the substance coat her eyelids to soak into the skin.

"Poor Mama..." Puppetmon shines.

"No fear, my little seedling. Mama will recover and show that fairy a thing or two about darkness," Lady Despair chuckles.

* * *

"Matt!" Tai greeted. "Where were you this whole time?"

"Thank you! That was a close one! Thanks!" Agumon rushed to MetalGarurumon.

But the metallic wolf's eyes glowed and fired an energy beam that hit the ground right next to him.

"Agumon, fight me! Evolve to Ultimate!" He commanded.

"No thanks! Why do I have to fight you?" MetalGarurumon launched two missiles that landed in front of Agumon.

"Stop that! Are you nuts?!" Beth yelled.

"Matt, wh-What is this? What are you doing?!" Sora demanded.

"Matt! Hurry up and stop him!" Tai asked.

"No. I won't." Matt said darkly.

"You won't? You…!"

"I won't miss next time!" MetalGarurumon warned. "Now… hurry up and evolve to WarGreymon!"

"You're being serious." Agumon muttered.

"Onii-chan!" T.K. cried.

MetalGarurumon was staring down Agumon and Matt was silently encouraging it.

Theo whispers, "Yui, you go and get some strong twine!"

Yui looked perplexed. "To tie down Puppetmon? That'll never work!"

"No, to tie down Matt. I think the pressure has gone to his head..."

As the others watch in desperation, Matt looks on, unmoved, a dark look on his face.

"Q-Quit kidding around, Matt!" Joe hurried over. "We're all friends here, aren't we?"

"Friends?" Matt questioned.

"That's right, friends! We're all Chosen Children, so that makes us friends with eight amateur fairies!" Matt scoffed. "Then here's a question. Who chose us?"

"Well…"

"If you don't even know that, what makes you think we're friends?"

"You have a point there…"

"That's got nothing to do with it!" Dana retorted indignantly.

"Agreed. It's a spurious excuse considering everything you all went through together." Sara G acknowledged Dana's words with a stiff nod.

"There's no use arguing with him." Tai said a little too calmly. "That's just how Matt is."

"How I am?" Matt repeated. "What do you know about me anyway?!"

"I know you! This is your way of throwing a tantrum, isn't it? Just because things aren't going the way you want them to!"

"Well, aren't you amazing! I don't even have any idea what kind of person I am, but you do!"

"Could have fooled me." Beth said sarcastically.

Tai and Agumon attempted to walk away and avoid the fight but neither Matt nor MetalGarurumon would let up.

"None of you get it, do you? This punch isn't coming from me! This is from Pixiemon!" Tai yelled as he punched Matt. "This one's from Chuumon!" Another punch. "And this is from Whamon's!" Tai's fourth punch knocked Matt ot the ground.

"Matt. Do you really think the Digimon who died for us would want us to fight this senseless battle? Now do you understand?"

"No, I don't!" Matt than gave Tai an upper cut. "I don't get it at all!"

Above, MetalGarurumon fires a volley of rockets at Wargreymon, who dodges them.

"What should we do?" Palmon worried.

"We have to stop them…" Piyomon said.

"But we're not strong enough to do that against their Mega-Level forms…" Tentomon reminded them.

"Let them fight until they've tired themselves out." Gatomon suggested.

"Hey! Don't you care about what happens to our friends?" Gomamon said indignantly. "You're just a newcomer so you know nothing…!"

"Stop! We don't need you guys to start fighting, too!" Tentomon interrupted them.

Gatomon was rather unphased. That was when Zaira, who had kept herself from arguing with anyone before over petty matters, said sternly, "Knock it off, this is exactly what the enemy wants!"

Kylie stepped forward, "Matt, just because you don't know why you and the others were chosen doesn't mean you have to take it out on Tai! Let alone drag your digimon partner into petty grudge matches!"

Matt took on a nasty attitude expressing his frustration. "And why should any of us listen to you most of all Kylie? You fell in love with Myotismon, but HE only loved you because you're Sirene's daughter!"

Kylie's eyes grow wide.

Beth's scowl deepened, "Ooh! Low blow shrimp, even for you!"

Even T.K. knew that was going too far. "Matt, that's not fair!"

Theo rolled her eyes at Matt's remark, "OH PUH-LEEZE! You make it sound so seamy. All they did was walk together and talk together."

Matt continued, "And besides this is YOUR kingdom but you don't even know half of what's goes on - "-

WHAP! Kylie did what she would never have done to any child – she just slapped Matt across the face. Everyone gasped.

Puppetmon looks amused. "Ooh! Looks like he just struck a nerve…"

Matt glared back, "That was a very big mistake, Kylie."

Kylie's eyes were teary but her words were cold as ice. "Well…Let me tell you something little Matt… I don't have the answers!" She'd had never spoken to anyone in a quarrelsome manner before save in battle, and it shocked Matt.

"Well," he said, trying to put up a tough front, "I guess I should expect that coming from one of Tai's fans."

But she hadn't spoken out of loyalty to a single party.

Zaira then intervened, "Matthew Ishida, you're unfit for leadership because you're too biased. If the leader lets past grudges get the better of him, then he loses his followers."

The people around Matt may have thought that he was a cold, aloof person, but that was only because he didn't show what he thought to other people. When had he become like that? He hadn't been like that when he was younger. But after his parents decided to divorce and his mom took T.K. by the hand and left home…  
_Don't go! Please don't go! Don't leave me!_  
The truth was, he had wanted to plead with her and cry — but he couldn't. Part of it had to do with his father standing by his side.  
Maybe his mother had secretly wished for Matt to say that to her.  
But at that moment, Matt had thought that he would never show weakness in front of his mom, even if he died from it. It was his own decision to follow his dad.  
Ever since coming to the Digital World, even Matt was surprised by how much emotion he expressed. All of the emotion that he'd held back while at home, at school, had come bursting out without pause.  
And so far this Matt was the only one that the eight guardians knew.

"Stop it, Onii-chan!" T.K. cried. "Fighting is bad!"

"With each other." Theo added.

T.K. had tried to urge his brother to listen but to no avail. "Onii-chan…"

"I've had enough!" Mimi turned away to sit and sulk in one section of the clearing.

"Mimi!" Sora went after her.

"We fight, and fight, and then what do we gain from it? Nothing is born out of it. All that comes out of it is sadness and hate. I don't want to deal with this anymore!"

"Mimi…"

"Well I don't see you doing anything about it!" Beth snarled back.

Lady Despair watched from the branch of a tree, laying on her side, smiling as the waves of anger and fear flowed from Matt and the others to herself, flowing into the eyes and mouth of the black, crystal horned skull that was her scepter, now turned into a ring. Her pink eyes glowed brighter, even if she couldn't use her magic, she could still build up her powers in the digital world. And with all the negative emotions abound, she was going to be as powerful as the Great Ak, if not more so.

Puppetmon was laughing as he sat on branch of tree with Lady Despair. "Mama, they're such kids, fighting over nothing..." Puppetmon cheered.

"Oh, not nothing, my little wood chip," Lady Despair smiled at Puppetmon. "To them, friendship is something serious, and to have it threatened causes all this delicious negativity!"

Puppetmon laughed, kicking his legs wildly, as he floated up into the air, Sierra grabs his ankle to float up with him. But Puppetmon was too giddy to hear his mother, and was bouncing from branch to branch, cheering as he dragged her along.

"Do it! Do it!" Puppetmon cheers. "Then die, both of you!"

"Shhhhush!" Lady Despair hissed. "They might turn that anger towards you, let them beat each other till they can't anymore, then we can take care of them, for now, sit down and watch the show."

"Awww~ Mama, such a downer." Puppetmon pouts.

"Don't take sass with me, little splinter." Lady Despair wags a finger at him consolingly, the one with the silver talon on it.

Matt and Tai were punching each other, Tai on top of Matt, but then Matt kicked Tai off of him.

"Enough!" Beth puts Matt into a hammerlock. "We can't let underage kids beat on each other."

"No matter how entertaining." Theo joked.

"Theo!" Sara G. exclaimed.

Beth continued angrily, "If you don't shape up - especially the crybaby wimping out behind us - I know you're listening Mimi, don't pretend not to! I don't know whether it's possible or not but I'm sending you both back WITHOUT your Digimon, we can save the world ourselves without you two dead weights to slow us down!"

"Stay out this!" Matt actually freed his right arm to angrily punch her away. "I'm sick of you always bossing me and everyone else around!"

Everyone had gasped in shock. Beth however counters, "It's to keep you all out of trouble which is exactly what you're starting over a lame reason!"

Lady Despair hung herself upside down, laughing her head off in glee.

"Oh this is DELICIOUS, this is DIVINE!" Lady Despair cackled as she vanished in pink smoke.

"Cocytus Breath!" "Gaia Force!"

It was already chaos with Tai, Agumon fighting with MetalGarurumon and Matt and the others telling them to stop – someone was going to get hurt or worse, killed. And the growing frustration was already start to wear Beth out.

"I said, STOP IT!" The leader of the guardians roared furiously, she'd stomped in between the two boys and shoved them to the opposite sides.

Except in her rage, her strength had unintentionally sent them flying in different directions. This shocked the others, fortunately for the feuding boys they were unharmed save for their pride but Beth was clearly horrified what happened.

A few paces away, Kari had heard the voice again. And this time, she was going to find out who it was. "Are you our friends? Or our enemies?" She stared up at the sparkling lights, hearing a voice that was unheard to others, but she heard it loud and clear.

"Are...are you really **HER?**" Kari gasped. "But...you can't be here, you're dead."

Izzy, Gatomon and Kylie showed up, and stared at Kari who was speaking to no one.

"Who is Kari talking to?" Izzy asked confused.

"I don't know, seeing spirits isn't my talent." Kylie remarked blankly.

"You mean she's talking to ghosts!?" Izzy asked.

"Well, it's not hard to believe, if there are fairies, witches and Gods." Kylie said with a shrug.

"Oh, you want to talk to the others?" Kari smiles. "Kylie has wanted to talk to you for a long time, so I'll allow it."

Kari shut her eyes, as the sparkling lights grew brighter, and soon a rainbow of light shot out as a beam onto Kari, engulfing her with its radiance.

"KARI!" Kylie screamed in time with Gatomon.

Kari held up her crest of light, and as the light intensified, and it caused Gatomon, Izzy and Kylie to stop from rushing up to Kari, covering their eyes to shield from the blinding aura.

"Izzy" Tentomon called out.

But as he flew up, a supernova of white light burst out, and it expanded, encompassing almost the entire forest, swooping up the others in its light as well. It hit Puppetmon, who cried out in pain and fear.

"AAHHH!' Puppetmon wailed clutching himself.

"NOO! IT CAN'T BE HER!" Lady Despair screams.

The sorceress was bending over in pain as she grabs onto Puppetmon, the two sent flying away, the white light burning horrible, and Puppetmon clinging to his mother as they were hurtled far from the forest.

* * *

Elsewhere, Machinedramon and Piedmon fell over in agony, the black blood of sierra's boiling and bubbling in their body, reacting to the painful white light.

* * *

They were in a place filled with bright white light.

Dana suddenly gulped, "Beth, the heart . . . it's clouded over."

Yui looks around fearfully. "That means something's REALLY wrong!"

Kari spoke. "Wherever there is light there is darkness. Both the light and the dark are related like a two faced coin, however if the darkness were to grow…"

Then the darkness began to grow.

"What is this place?" Joe worried. "Did we get sucked into another dimension?"

"The Twilight zone?" Theo shrugged.

But when it cleared they all found themselves in Hikarigaoka aka Heighton View terrace.

An image of two digimon hovering in mid-air then appeared. One digimon was Greymon, the other was an unknown bird like digimon. It was called a Parrotmon that was the Digimon that appeared four years ago.

"Several years ago a digi-egg passed through the rift between the two dimensions."

"What are you talking about Kari?" Tai questioned.

"It's not Kari talking." Gatomon informed.

"Someone is using her body to talk to us." Izzy explained.

This got concerned reactions, thou the fairies were in particular concerned, especially given how Lady Despair threatened to expel Kari's soul to take over her body to extend her life.

Kari turned to look at them all, but it was on Gatomon and Kylie that her eyes seemed to well with tears, as a happy smile burst out on her face. A smile to melt an iceberg with its warmth, as she stepped forward, and her eyes turned completely green, shining with an ethereal light. "_My Beloved Children._"

And she began to sing a gentle lullaby.

"_Constant as the stars above, always know that you are loved and my love shining in you. Will help you make your dreams come true._"

The voice sang softly out of Kari's mouth, and Kylie covered her mouth in surprise, tears welling in her and Gatomon's eyes.

Gatomon remembered little as a Digiegg, but a soft voice, singing gently to her from outside, and a warmth that now exuded from Kari. And Kylie, she remembered, those eyes, smiling and shimmering down at her as the voice sang her to sleep.

That voice...the voice of...

"Mother..." Kylie whispered in stunned amazement.

Sirene spoke through Kari, "Gatomon, I'm so proud of you."

Kylie was almost in tears. "Mother, I'm so sorry . . . I didn't mean to . . .!"

"Say no more, Kylie . . . it couldn't be helped." she reassured then cast her gaze on the others. "Since my death, I've become one with the world I've come to treasure so much. However, as an unseen spirit I now lack corporeal shape so I am borrowing Kari's momentarily."

"Why Kari?" asked Tai.

"She was the only who could hear me. The truth is I wanted to speak to you all since you first arrived on File Island but I didn't have a chance. Now come, there is something you must see."

At once all eight children with their digimon and the Guardians were lifted up into the air as though they were flying. Each child and guardian recognized themselves in the past illuminated by bright white spotlights on the apartment complexes or on the street.

"Where are we?" Haruna asked.

Dana pointed, "There we are over there! Er, me and Beth that is - I think we're on vacation leave something."

"It was on that day, I first cast eyes upon you, and the children who would become my daughters stalwart friends," Sirene smiles at Kylie and the others with Kari's face. "Never have I stopped being grateful to you all, especially you Dana, darling of the animal kingdom, grace of fauna, when you and Brave Beth became sisters in word and deed to my child."

Beth grinned proudly with a blush. Dana smiled warmly, as she walked over to Kylie, who wrapped an arm around Dana, smiling and tears still falling from this reunion.

"There's me on the phone!" Joe points to himself down on the balcony of his apartment.

"And me too." Mimi declared.

"Oh, cute and girly even then," Haruna chuckled.

"And me with Big Brother," T.K. said.

"What are those lights?" Izzy asked.

"They're me, in a sense." Sirene answered. "I still have influence over the digital world, and through my own element, I am able to manifest and directly affect things in other worlds."

"Your element?" Kylie asked.

"Light, my Darling Daughter. Thus why Kari cold hear me, her crest is of light, and it's why Gatomon is so powerful with her," Sirene pets and strokes Gatomon's head who purrs happily. "She is of my blood, as you are and thus is strengthened by the element of light. It's why you three are so close, Kari and you, both have a heart that is practically devoid of all darkness."

"And the lights are you using magic on us?" Sora asked. "But what for?"

"So, I could scan you, and prepare you," Sirene looked downcast.

Sirene carries them off ward and into another world, a room full of machines and such.

"Where...where are we?" Zaira asked, looking around in confusion.

"We are in the past," Sirene states. "What you see and hear are but shadows, which may not be altered, and will reveal all that needs to be known."

As they walked through the room, TK. spotted a large glass case, he hurried over with Dana and the others.

"I see something over here," T.K. called out. "Oh, they're digi eggs!"

"The digivices and Crests are here too," Koromon said.

And indeed, the crests and digivice were there, and attached by suction cup like cables to the eggs.

"Ahhh!" Joe yelled.

The others spun around, surprised at the sight of transparent hooded figures that walked through the room.

"Uh, forgive us for the intrusion!" Joe stammered.

"Wait...Joe, I don't think they're just holograms." Yui said in assuring tone.

"As I said: These are the shadows of things that have been," Sirene spoke up. "They can neither see, hear, nor feel you."

"So, it's like Dickens' Christmas Carol?" Beth asked.

"Wow, I didn't think Sirene could do this," Tai said. "But she was so powerful as a Nymph, and is a ghost now."

"This is but a sample of what Kylie will be able to achieve in the future," Sirene spoke up. "And many other wonderful gifts."

Kylie blushed a little at the proud tone in Sirene's voice, though felt odd with it coming out of Kari.

"Hey, look over here!" Izzy called out, directing everyone to a pedestal, a familiar looking one. "It's the pedestal from Myotismon's castle!"

"No way!" Theo exclaimed.

"The gate is here too!" Piyomon called out. "It's the same room."

Everyone walked over, and had a million questions in their minds.

"What are those people over there doing?" Joe asked. "Are they your children too?"

Kari/Sirene smiled in amusement and shook her head. "No, they were around before I came to this world. When I..." Sirene froze, and look at Kylie with saddened eyes. "When I was taken from my daughter, and she was sent out of this world, I had entrusted them to carry on my work."

"Your work?" Zaira asked, as Kylie had walked up to Sirene with a worried look.

"I had made Gatomon's Digiegg, but the others needed creating, and tending too, since I could no longer do it." Sirene said with a heartbroken expression. "So many little children I left behind, all because I couldn't stand up to the Queen of Darkness." Sirene had a tear run down her cheek. "I was unprepared, Kylie's father..." Kylie snaps to attention. "His loss had heavily affected me, and I had not recovered from having creating the Holy Beasts, so these friends of mine had to prepare for when Lady Despair and her monstrous brood overrun the world."

Sirene was covering her mouth, and her body, Kari's body shook.

"I let so much happen, so much pain and despair...what I let Lady Despair do without me around..." Sirene hiccupped back a sob.

She gasped trying to steady herself, "The final preparations before the forces of evil invaded the Digiworld. First the digivices were created and the crests from the information we've received."

"So you're the ones who chose us. But why us?"

"You and your sister raised the egg until it became a Greymon didn't you?"

"No, he evolved on his own!"

"There is no such thing as a spontaneous evolution. T'was not a mere coincidence. It was because of your presence there that allowed him to evolve into Greymon!"

"But… we didn't do anything! We didn't even have a Digivice!" Tai protested.

"A digivice isn't just an enchanted tool to help digievolution it's only to join your abilities and the Digimon's to make the change easier. The same is with the crests, I suppose you're all familiar with the virtues you've been assigned to."

Each one names theirs, Matt was hesitant but Joe slapped him on the back cheerily.

"After studying the information we all found that the rest of you had something in common with Tai and Kari which up until today remains a mystery. However the Dark masters got wind of the plan and sent an army to destroy everything."

Right on cue some big robots came in and started attacking the workers - Mechanorimon and Guardromon. Then Joe saw something that made him yell in horror. "Aargh! It's Piedmon! Don't come any closer!"

"Get a grip Joe! They're only illusions!" Zaira said rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"You're not in any danger." Gomamon added.

Said Dark Master laughed and broke the glass casing, pulling out the eight crests.

"Piedmon, you'll never take them!" One of the men in robes shouted.

"Gennai." The jester said darkly.

"That man is Gennai?" T.K. questioned is surprise.

"Wow, so that's him younger." commented Yui.

Young Gennai charged forward but Piedmon jumped over his swing and then put some sort of black ball in his back that made Gennai cringe in pain. Another swing missed and a Mechanorimon went beside him and tried to use his Twinkle Beam at point blank range. Gennai dodged it and jumped on top where he used his sword to open the blue dome on top of the Digimon and hijacked a Bakemon that was driving the suit of armor.

"Out of my way!" He cried. He used the suit to pick up the Digieggs and Digivices before using the rocket boosters on the back of Mechanorimon to fly out the ceiling of the chamber.

"Follow him and bring back those crests!" Piedmon ordered multiple Mechanorimon and Guardromon to follow along.

"We must follow them." Sirene's said as they took flight to watch the pursuit.

They attacked and one Digi-Egg fell in a nearby forest on Server.

"That's me!" Gatomon exclaimed, watching her own egg fall. "So that's why I grew up all alone from the other digimon."

"And how you were found by Sierra," Sirene said sadly. "I regretted it sorely, Lady Despair was the cause of yet me losing another daughter to grow up without me, even if it was indirectly, and worse you fell into the clutches of darkness."

Sirene smiles as Piyomon pats Gatomon on the head.

"But we're together now," Piyomon said cheerfully. "And you got Kari and Kylie as well."

"That is true," Gatomon said with a smile. "And I've met you finally...Mother."

Sirene beams at these words.

"I will say this much, at least you were raised 'somewhat' lovingly by Lady Despair," Beth said. "Though considering she left you in Myotismon's 'tender mercy' that sorta goofed up whatever 'kindness' she gave you before."

"But she was there for me, for a short while..." Gatomon admits. "It's easy to see, why Myotismon, Etemon and the Dark Masters adore her so much."

"True..." Sirene said softly. "We are all not without our light spots, and dark spots. But balance is the key."

The lone Agent that survived— In other words, Gennai— seized an enemy Mechanorimon and made off with the eight Digieggs with their digivices attached to them. The Crests alone he could not recover. The Digieggs were what reacted with the children in Odaiba.  
It was at that time that Piedmon buried a black ball, a clump of pure darkness, in Gennai's back. It was to assure that even if Gennai made it out of there alive, he would be prevented from moving around freely. This black ball was the prototype for what would later be reformed into the Dark Seed, a vital weapon for the Digimon of darkness.

Gennai shook off his pursuers, crossed the ocean, and hid the Digieggs on File Island, which was a remote area in the world at the time that was still covered by a thick glacier. Then, he immediately flew off again, burrowing at the bottom of Temp Lake. He needed to create a barrier that would prevent the black ball from activating.  
While inside that barrier, Gennai had to think about what he could do to suppress the black ball's power. The conclusion that he came up with was to "grow old." By disabling his regenerative function, he could prevent the black ball from enlarging.

They came to File Island, where it was a frozen wasteland.

"Know this, I never stopped watching over you all," Sirene said. "To me, you were just as much my children as Kylie, all of the denizens of this world were..."

A ghostly image is seen, it is Sirene, watching over the eggs, lying next to them, blowing them kisses and tracing her phantom hands over the eggs.

"I looked after you all, I sung to you, even if you couldn't hear me for many, many, many years. And finally..."

'Past Sirene' is seen smiling overjoyed, as one egg shifts, and hatches.

"Ah! I hatched!" Koromon exclaimed joyfully.

"And I continued to watch over you, as you all waited. Waited for the ones who would be your most beloved partners," Sirene said. "Those who would be there for you, when I could not and fill in my vacant position."

Each of the baby digimon hopped around carrying the Digivices in their mouths.

Time passed and the seven babies digivolved to their In-Training levels.

"I remember, we've always been waiting. For Tai!"

Each Digimon said the name of their human partner in nostalgia. The glacier covering the island gradually melted away and greenery sprouted. And then, when it looked like their prospects of defeating the Four Holy Beasts looked brighter, the Dark Masters dispatched one of their subordinates, Devimon, to the remote File Island in order to commence the spread of the powers of darkness throughout the Digital world.

The time had come. Equilibrium in the Digital world fell out of balance as the powers of darkness increased, and the digivices flew towards the human world to summon the Chosen Children and the guardians to join them… Soon the kids arrived to file island much to the Digimon's delight.

"So that's what happened." Tai nodded.

"So much has gone ire, but here you all are now, united. And I have hope again, and was able to speak to you now," Sirene said. "You are stronger united, you must not let anything compromise your virtues, or Lady Despair will win. And what started when I first came to this world, will die as I did so long ago."

"You were so young then, much younger than the Chosen children here. Yet born with an unforeseeable power many wanted for themselves to exploit or destroy."

"So, what happened to me, then?" Kylie questioned, referring to past events.

"Nothing that doesn't happen to everyone. You had doubts. You were afraid. You came to believe everything that you loved most dearly could be taken away from you. But the truth is no one in the whole universe could ever steal your past, your values, your dreams, or your magic powers. No one owns them, not a soul. They are yours to keep forever."

"I've just learned about my mother's great sacrifice. How she saved my life. Mother, I swear to you, as soon as I'm done with the Dark Masters, I'm off to find out what happened to my father and restore this world.

"That's how a guardian should talk. I'm proud of you, Kylie." She then cast her gaze on the group, "It's up to you to decide what your future will be! We don't know what the Dark Masters' final objective is or what must be done to save this world. All we can do for now is watch over the peace of the Digimon world and prepare a system that will repair damages before they take effect."

"What do you think we should do from here?"

"I don't know. But I believe that, through using your own abilities, you will find the answer. I must go now. My dear Kylie and Gatomon, remember, whatever happens, you have a mother, and she's truly proud of you both."

Once more their vision was filled with a bright white light…

* * *

And they were back with the forest where they last were. Kari was now on the ground with her eyes closed in Tai's arms.

"Kari?"

"Are you okay, Kari?"

Kari's eyes fluttered open. "Onii-chan… Gatomon."

"Oh...I wanted to say good-bye, maybe get a hug and kiss too." Kylie pouted sadly.

"Well, that'd be a little weird, since she was in Kari." Mimi said glumly.

"Hey, you can give me a hug and kiss," Gomamon said with a grin.

"Gomamon, you're not possessed by my mother," Kylie laughed lightly.

"I know, but I'd still very much like a hug and kiss from you," Gomamon said and puckered up his lips.

Joe was blushing furiously at Gomamon's blunt declaration.

"Gomamon!" Joe sputtered incredulously, as Kylie laughed loudly with the others.

Though she obliged by hugging the little seal digimon.

"Kari, do you remember what happened to you earlier…?" Tai asked.

"Earlier..?"

"Uh, if you don't remember, never mind!"

"You mean when Sirene wanted to talk to Kylie and everyone? Now I do."

Clearing his throat, Tai looked to Matt. "Now we know why we're the Chosen Children."

"Yeah." Matt nodded glumly.

"Just as I'd thought… It looks like we're the only ones who can straighten out this world's distortions." He walked over and held out his hand. "Matt. Let's fight side by side again."

"I'm sorry."

"Onii-chan." T.K. was worried.

"Could I have been wrong this whole time?" Tai wondered.

"No… This was all my fault."

Some of the older girls looked dubious. Most likely they were still sore from how Matt tried to fight Tai, risking everyone's safety.

"That's not what I meant! I was talking about how I've been acting up until now…" Tai tried to explain.

"It's not my place to say this after how I've behaved, but… I don't think there is ever a right or wrong way of doing things. It's simply that you have your path and I have mine. I don't have a clue what sort of path is waiting for me. I thought that if I fought you, I'd be able to find out what it was. Apologizing probably won't be enough for you to forgive me, but… I'm sorry… I want to find my own path." Matt turned to face the group. "No, I have to! That's why I've decided to leave you guys and go on alone from here. Just me and Tsunomon."

"Please reconsider!" Izzy insisted. "After all, Matt, your crest… I mean, your best quality is…!"

"Friendship, I know. But friendship is such a flakey word, don't you think? No… Maybe it just sounds that way to me because I don't know what true friendship really is."

"H-Hey… How about this? We break into two groups and go on from there." Sora suggested.

Haruna said, "Sora's got a point we can't afford to isolate each other more and more."

"Sorry, but I need to do this alone."

"Oh… But I know you'll be fine, Matt. I believe in you."

"Onii-chan… What should I do without you?" T.K. asked.

"You can take care of yourself now."

"But…"

"You're with us, T.K." Sora placed her hands on his shoulders. "Matt has something he wants to think about on his own. Let him go."

However Beth didn't even bother to be understanding. She was feeling anything but forgiving towards Matt or Mimi at this moment. "Then you can forget about coming back!"

"What?"

"But Beth!"

The older redhead looked furious her hands were in fists and her blue eyes were blazing.

"Come on, Beth don't be like that!" Sara G tried to calm her.

"Save it." Beth stopped her flatly. "We already tried talking it out at first, Matt still refused to listen as a result someone could've been killed and that's what gets me!"

Catching Dana's eye, Yui knew the youngest Pantheon was worried. They knew Beth had an infamous short temper, however the next cold reaction was from the last one they expected it.

"Beth might be taking this to the extreme but she has a point: Trust is earned. Especially if someone who we believed was a friend turned on us all for one angry little fit." Kylie was glaring coolly at Matt. "And I've always carried myself a certain dignity, Matt. Today, you robbed me of it. If you leave now, then I don't know whether we'll ever see you again." She then turns her back on him and leaves.

The kids were greatly uncomfortable.

Beth added, "You're just running away because your lousy pride won't allow let you admit the truth: You feel you've been abandoned by your parents and younger brother. Friends don't try to kill each other for questions, let alone someone who should know better."

"Beth, I made a mistake shouldn't that-"

"No, no, no! A mistake is accidentally stepping on someone's foot or when a ball hits someone's window. What you did could land you in juvie for a long time! There's a VERY big difference between a mistake and a crime!"

Matt had then turned and walked away from us. Mimi didn't even bother to stand up. Did she not have the energy to stand? Sora held out her hand to help her up. But Mimi didn't take it. Instead, she said, "I'm sorry, I'm not going."

The way that she said it wasn't in her usual pleading whine, but in a gloomy, oppressed tone. It threw Sora off.

"Not going? You want to stay here?"

"Yeah. Others may get hurt and die again… I don't want to see that anymore."

Beth huffed. "So you're shocked by all those deaths. Who isn't? But we need to fight, or someone else will get killed just like them. Do you want that blood on your hands?!"

"Of course not! But I just can't see fighting as the only answer to our problem!"

"What other choice is there? They're not going to sit down and talk things out, the world doesn't work that way! I doubt they'd even bother to agree to that. Believe me I know!"

Another uncomfortable silence fell among them. Then Joe hurried to Mimi's side.

"It's dangerous for Mimi to be here on her own. I'll do my best to convince her to come back, and after I've done that, we'll join up with you guys again. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." Tai nodded. "We're counting on you, Joe."

"Okay." He ran over to Mimi.

"So that's it?! We're all just going to let the groups split up and get us all killed faster?!" Beth suddenly yells.

Haruna tried to appeal to the older redhead. "Beth, don't you think you're being a little inflexible? They're just children."

Surprisingly, Theo and Yui walk over to where Joe and Mimi are standing.

Theo interrupts. "No, Beth's right. Can't you see we got better things to do than sulk all over the forest?! Don't forget we STILL got _3_ creeps out to get us? And I'm not leaving until you two shape up! Nuff said!" She sits down scowling.

Yui looked to the others awkwardly, "I'll try to cool her off, be seeing you guys."

Beth scoffed. "Good luck with talking sense into her, then. But _I've_ just had enough of all this 'no more fights' crud! You know you can't avoid it! Cowards!"

Mimi actually stammered. "But Beth, I..."

Sora hurried after the older redhead, "Beth wait! We won't solve things like this."

"Then you don't know me too well, Sora. I'll bend backwards over for a friend, but this time both Matt and Mimi's on her own!"

Joe sounded a little irked. "Go ahead and leave Beth, but think about it! Mimi's our friend."

Beth spat her reply, "I certainly won't stop you . . . but this time count me out! From now on, you're on your own -alone!"

She storms off without a backward glance.

Dana looked back. "I know her. She's just mad that you don't just face the problem and get it over with."

After discussing it with Joe, Yui decided that either of them should accompany Mimi and continue to persuade her, rejoining with the others once Mimi understood. Sora said that she would take on that role, because it would be better for girls to travel together.

"Leave her to me." Joe was unusually assertive. "I think that each of us has a part to play, in the same way that each of our Crests has a different meaning. And I think that this is my job. Please, let me go with her."

Beth and Theo were the angriest at them (Matt, Joe and Mimi). She just couldn't believe they'd preferred to abandon the team after all they went through together.

"Having someone like her will just drag us down. You should know that." Beth was grumbling.

"I did know that. That's why Yui, Theo and Joe are trying to persuade her, aren't they?!"

Dana actually sighed in near frustration, "How're we supposed to protect the Veil, if we all keep splitting up every time there's a fight?"

"Everyone is being separated again…" Patamon shared her sentiment.

"And just when all nine of us got together, too…" Piyomon sadly added.

Gatomon then said sagely. "The roads we take are different… But the place we'll end up in is the same. We'll get there, no matter how thorny our paths get."

* * *

The Dark Spectre Queen watched this all in the mirror, her handmaiden Mira being the mirror, and the one in silver, Keller watching, while holding a tray with a glass chalice full of a bubbling, steaming green liquid.

"Oh dear, it seems Sirene's contact might have just made things worse," Keller said with a sigh. "What's to be done?"

"Nothing..." Vanessa said and took the glass chalice. "For the moment they need separation so that they can see clearly what must be done, before reuniting stronger than ever. You'll see it all in the end is true."

**_To be continued…_**


	33. Revenge of MetalEtemon

"I'm sorry for making you indulge in my selfishness." Mimi looked apologetically at Joe, who was sitting next to her stuffing himself with the berries that Palmon and Gomamon had gathered.

"Yeah, I bet you are." Theo scoffed.

Joe swallowed down the contents in his mouth with one huge gulp and said, "No that's not selfishness. What you say is absolutely right. Fighting only gives way to more fighting and that never solves anything.

Yui piped up, "Maybe not in practical matters but this is a different case."

"Especially when you just abandon everyone and your responsibilities altogether." Theo sneered, lighting and relighting a lighter.

Mimi was resolute on her decision, and even Yui hadn't been able to change her mind.

"Besides, you don't have to rush. Um… think through this carefully, Mimi. Until you've come up with an answer that you agree on. There's plenty of time. "

She meant that in terms of the flow of time being different between Earth and the Digital World. But whenever she looked up and unavoidably at the sky, she couldn't help but feel that they did have to hurry.

Yui turn and drags Theo aside. "We're not getting anywhere like this! Were supposed to convince them to go back to the others!"

"Then why not plan B: trickery?"

"Fist of Domination!" The green goblin, Ogremon, used all of his power to attack the Woodmon.

The response was effective. The Woodmon's body crumbled into splinters. But it wasn't a single Woodmon that he was facing. Because they were attacking him in a large swarm, they kept coming and coming no matter how many times he took them down.  
When they kept coming in swarms like this, not even Ogremon whose life revolved around battle could handle them.  
"Damn it! I'm gonna have to run!"  
In the end, Ogremon ran off. But there was no chance that the Woodmon would quietly overlook him. He was their long-awaited prey. They shook their withered branches as they chased after Ogremon. If the event was seen from the skies, it would probably have looked as if the entire forest was moving.

They were in Puppetmon's domain, the region of forests. Ogremon had only just arrived in this world, having wandered through the other worlds previously in search of Leomon. To Ogremon, Leomon was his eternal rival. Defeating Leomon was Ogremon's reason to live. "That's why I can't die until I've achieved that! I can't let nobody Digimon like Woodmon kill me!"

The Woodmon moved slowly, so Ogremon thought that he could outrun them. However, while he knew the forests of File Island like the back of his hand, he was now in an unfamiliar land. When he pushed out of the forest and thought that he'd found the exit, he instead found himself at a dead end, face to face with the bottom wall of a precipice. He tried to turn back, but it was too late. The head of the Woodmon pack had already reached him. Ogremon took a step back. The Woodmon surrounded him, leaving him with no other means of escape beyond scaling the precipice.

"I–Is this it? Is this where it all ends…?!" He wasn't moaning out of fear of death, but at how he had pathetically allowed himself to be cornered like this.

A big shadow fell over them they looked up to see a great black mass briefly before seeing it turn into a red burning object.

"That's a meteor!" cried Joe

"AND it's headed downwards!" yelled Yui.

The meteor struck a ridge causing an explosion and a brief earthquake. In another section of the forest, the other five children and six fairies were trembling, clinging to trees and what they could grab in alarm.

"What the heck!?" Beth screamed.

"I feel... I feel something, dark!" Kylie cried out, rubbing her forehead as something washed over herself.

"Kylie?" Tai cried out in surprise.

"Something is here, something powerful..." Kylie grimaces. "Oh, I know this feeling, it's like...one of the dark masters!"

"A meteor!" Tentomon flew back down. "And a huge meteor at that! It came crashing down here!"

"Never mind that, let's go back to what we were talking about." Sora reminded them, even though something about the meteor nagged at the back of her mind.

"Yeah. I say we go to Puppetmon's mansion." T.K. insisted.

"Likewise." Dana agreed.

"We can take you there, let's go!" Patamon chimed in.

"What you're saying that instead of waiting, we should make the first move and challenge him to a battle?" asked Izzy.

"I agree. Besides it's a waste of time to sit around and wait in the first place." Gatomon said seriously. "If we don't hurry it'll be too late for our world and yours."

"Words of wisdom Gatomon." Kylie says soberly. "I trust your judgment."

"Got a point, a lot better than moping around in the forest and ditching everyone out of selfish pride." Beth said with a curt nod.

Haruna discreetly whispered to Beth. "Don't you think you're being a little inflexible regarding Mimi and Matt?"

"Maybe I am, but this is important. It doesn't just involve us but our families too, we can't stop for one minute otherwise it's all over." The redhead tomboy replied sternly.

"W-Wait a minute, guys! Puppetmon is a Mega Level, remember? We won't win that easily against him!" Sora voiced her concern.

"But we have to fight him sooner or later, don't we?" T.K. said to Sora looking stern.

"That's right!" Patamon chimed in.

"Why don't we take a vote?" Izzy suggested. "All who think we should go to Puppetmon's mansion!"

Everyone else all raised their hands along with the Digimon. Tai had been thoughtful wondering what Matt would do when Kari got his attention then he said. "All right, I got it. Why don't we take a look at the place before we figure things out?"

"Fair enough." Beth agreed.

"Follow me, everyone." T.K. urged them, he and Dana ran on ahead. Zaira stayed where she was, as if listening for something.

"Sora?" Tai noticed she wasn't moving.

"I guess there's no other choice, if that's what you've decided."

"That's not what I meant! If we find any danger there, the girls, Koromon and I will stop the enemy's attacks. That way you can lead the others to safety while we distract him." Tai the noticed Zaira. "Z?"

"Just had a premonition about that meteor, it's all fuzzy but something about it feels all wrong."

"Whatever it may be, we can solve it after this!"

* * *

Far off, Lady Despair stumbled, trying to keep herself upright with her scepter as Puppetmon grabs her to steady his mother.

"Mama, what's wrong!?" Puppetmon asked worried.

"For a moment, I thought..." Lady Despair was stunned, dragging her fingers through her golden strands. "I felt something call out to me, like my..." Lady Despair shakes her head. "No, it's not possible." She looked around frantically, and saw the smoke rising from far off. "My Son, observe!" Lady Despair grabs his arm to point frantically. "It is! It has to be!" Lady Despair grins wildly. "ONE OF MY SONS CAME BACK!"

She drew her arms over her head, and immediately became Devimon, or a facsimile of him, her bright pink eyes still glowing, and flew off into the air.

"Ah! Mama, wait for me!" Puppetmon called out.

* * *

In the meantime, Theo, Joe, Mimi and Yui were on the trail of the meteor only to notice that Digimon lay fallen on the ground, camouflaged within the heap of branches over it. Palmon began to clear away the branches to help the poor Digimon. As the branches cleared, they saw the familiar ugly green face albeit injured and bleeding from the forehead.

"It's Ogremon! " Palmon backed up. "He's not, moving maybe he's dead?"

The green ogre stirred a little alarming the group.

"He looks hurt!" Mimi started.

Joe cried. "Let's get outta here, Mimi! If he attacks us as he did in File Island, we'll be in big trouble. It's best to leave him here."

Mimi, however, went to treat Ogremon's wounds of all things as did Yui.

"Don't be crazy!" Theo rebuked them.

Ogremon regained consciousness to see Yui, Mimi and Palmon, his enemies lending him a helping hand. He looked at them like he couldn't believe what they were doing."Wh–Why? Why are you helping me…?"

"Keep still! You'll open your wounds! " Mimi chided. She promptly told Gomamon to bring water and for Palmon to bring medicinal herbs.

But Mimi's way of wiping around Ogremon's gaping wounds with her handkerchief lacked some delicacy, so Joe, watching this, said, "Let me. I am a doctor's son, after all."

He didn't know any special training, despite being a doctor's son. The most he ever did was look through his father's medical textbooks and play doctor with his older brother Shuu, as a child. Still, he knew a bit more than the average child.  
He asked Mimi to be his assistant. Ogremon's left arm appeared to be broken, so he put a splint against it and used the toilet paper that he'd brought from Earth as a sling around Ogremon's shoulder.

Ogremon looked down at his dressed injuries. "Why did you help me? I tried to destroy you on File Island. It won't be a surprise to anyone if you finished me right now."

"But you were the one that attacked us first when you worked for Devimon." Theo points out only to get elbowed by Joe.

"Actually, I've never met you until today." Yui interjected lightly. "I got no grudge with you."

"Again, with the destroying us or not don't you know any nicer words than that?" Mimi demanded putting her hands on her hips.

"Nicer words?" Ogremon stood up

"Don't strain yourself. Well take care." Mimi intended to walk away.

"W-wait!" Ogremon called after them then struggled with the words, "Th-th-thank you!" tears were welling in Ogremon's periwinkle colored eyes.

Yui shrugged with a confident smile. "No problem. After all: Never underestimate the power of a kind act."

"Ogremon's crying!" exclaimed a surprised Gomamon.

"So that's what they mean when they say even ogres can cry." Joe remarked.

Ogremon quickly wiped his eyes, "Uh, there's just something in my eye."

"Ogremon, you wretched little virus!"

The group turn, and gasp on seeing the bat like figure descend from the sky with a vicious glare.

"Devimon?" Ogremon asked in shock.

"No, look at the eyes," Joe said. "It's really Lady Despair!"

"What...who is that?" Ogremon asked.

"The mother of the Dark Masters and Myotismon, Etemon and Devimon." Mimi accused.

"Wha...really!?" Ogremon was stunned.

"So, you're just going to sit there, and not even attempt to strike back at them!" Devi-Despair hissed.

"Let's play! another horribly familiar voice taunted down to them. They glanced up to see Puppetmon. " Let's play Riddle me this! What am I missing? Hurry up and tell me! If you don't answer the riddle, I'll kill you."

"I'll tell you: Your mind! You lost your mind Puppetmon!" Theo shouted.

"A little late for that." Yui said sarcastically.

Puppetmon scowled. "Hey what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Impertinent Brat!" Lady Despair spins to point her scepter. "Come forth, serpent of Earth!"

And a beam of red shot out of the scepter's skull mouth, which hit the ground, and a huge dragon like serpent made of Rock burst out of the ground, it roared, before it charged at the fairies.

"Starlight Beam!" Yui points her palm, and shoots a beam of yellow magic at it. It became a burst of yellow sparks. That was when Gomamon joined into help fight.

"Gomamon digivolve to... IKKAUKMON! Harpoon Vulcan!"

"Mimi, let me evolve!" Palmon urged her partner.

"But…!" Mimi was hesitant. _But what if Togemon lose her life?_ She thought.

"Don't leave me out of this!" Theo said before transforming. "If magic won't work, then we get physical!"

"Wretched pests! " Lady Despair aims her scepter at Theo. "Let's see you get all high and mighty, when you're wiggling in the mud as a worm! "

Lady Despair waves her hand over her scepter, which began to glow red from the skulls eyes. "Ancient Spirits, I call on you, if you have mercy, answer these wretched peons' prayers. As I..."

Suddenly a white sparkling light, the same one that foretold Sirene's presence, suddenly appears in front of Despair causing her to cry out. "What!? What is this!?" Lady Despair hissed and swings are the lights.

_~The spell, Yui. Speak the spell!~_

The voice of Sirene spoke out to Yui, who felt magical knowledge fall into her mind. "I call upon you, fall from the heavens and pierce the darkness to create a shadow to enclose! SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT!"

Yui raised her arms upwards, and immediately, three broadswords of yellow light shot from the sky, and as Sirene's presence disappeared, the swords fell in front of her and Lady Despair froze immediately.

"Yui, what was that...isn't that the spell the Dark Spectre Queen used?" Theo said. "That's high-level magic! "

"I know, and it'll keep her trapped for 13 minutes, so let's hurry! " Yui said.

It reached a peak when Ikkakumon became Zudomon, he, Yui and Theo charged towards Puppetmon using their attacks all at once. However, the force of it send the heroic three backwards. Theo and Yui remained in Digix mode but Zudomon changed back to Gomamon.

"I'm not hearing an answer." Puppetmon jeered. "Then I guess I'll have to kill you."

Suddenly a wild call as heard. Then something silvery landed on a branch just above them.

"Don't you know a superstar when you see one? Now applause, applause!"

Theo facepalmed, "Oh no, not this guy again!"

Yui made a face, "Who is this show-off?"

"Remember that oversized monkey-man pain in the butt we told you about?"

"Oh." Yui blinked.

"You're… Etemon!" Joe shouted in near disbelief.

The monkey digimon looked much different now. He was now completely covered in silvery metal and had the word 'Stronger' on his chest in red kanji. "Etemon is old news. Now I've been reborn into the new and improved MetalEtemon! I know, I know, it's unbelievable," Metal Etemon tries a pose, thrust out his chest to bounce his pecs. "But this Manly Monkey just became a Silver Stud!"

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Yui took one step back.

Theo scowled, folding her arms with a scoff. "Yeah, if that was supposed to be your own version of the 'smolder'! I'm NOT impressed."

"And well, well, looks like I got super lucky," The maniac monkey leers. "Cause not only do I come back with ultra, super powers, but I find the pesky pixies that spoiled my chance to win the good graces of the mad artist!"

"We thought you died, how did you come back?" Palmon asked.

"Thank you for asking." Suddenly, music started to play.

"Oh great, he's gonna sing." Theo rolled her eyes.

_ "~It's a tale that makes both its listeners and storyteller weep with emotion! After my battle with MetalGreymon, you are all aware that I was sucked into a black hole, yes?_" MetalEtemon sings out.  
True, the same one that sent Tai and Theo back to Odaiba.

_"But by the divine, dark, Despair Blood coursing through me, I did not die!"_

Unfortunately.

_"No, by my Dark Queen's magic, within the dark realms my body was broken down and regenerated, over and over again. But I survived_,_ and why is that? Because of My Mad Artist Mama's black blood that was the base of my existence, and because her powers grow with negative emotions. The only thought running through my mind, was that I would get revenge on the Chosen Children and Sirene's heir for making me suffer like this! After I was finally reborn into MetalEtemon, I have returned, on this very day, to this world!"_ He bends his microphone over to purr into it. _~ "My deep and utter hate allowed me to return from the underworld. So, I can get my revenge on you~"_

He finally stopped singing only to point at Yui dramatically, "And as the New King of Metal, I deem you to be the one to be my metal queen!"

"Your- what?!" Yui looked back in forth in disbelief, before hiding behind Theo.

They were pretty sure Joe and Mimi facepalmed with a mix of horror and pique.

"Not another one!" Joe muttered.

Ogremon just made a face, expressing disgust. And even if he was their enemy, Puppetmon seemed to look just as repulsed. "Eww!"

Theo laughed nervously, "Dude, uh, you wouldn't wanna get with Yui. The thing is, she's, well she's, very difficult." she muttered out of the corner of her mouth to the others. "Help me out here."

"And she's not very organized." Joe offered.

"She doesn't know a thing about computers and just as soon as break one just by typing." added Mimi.

"She's pretty clumsy too." Palmon added

Gomamon chipped in, "And she's easily distracted..."

Yui finally stamps her foot in annoyance. "OK, that's enough!"

"What's going on over there?!" Despair's voice shouted.

"At least he finally stopped singing." Puppetmon griped loudly.

"There's still more tunes where that came from, little boy." MetalEtemon retorted, jumping down from the branch onto the forest ground.

"Who you calling little boy?!" Puppetmon charged.

"Banana slip!"

As expected, Puppetmon slips on the banana peel. Theo actually snickered, "OK that was SO lame!"

"What's wrong, little boy?"

"Stop calling me that!" Puppetmon hit MetalEtemon right on his right shin with the mallet. The area turned pink at once as he hopped in pain. "How dare you hit me with that!?"

"Drill Nose!"

"Hekoki Attack!"

Ugh! The group was more than sure their brains resented our eyes and noses for witnessing MetalEtemon's nasty attack. Joe, Mimi and their Digimon were holding their noses, while Ogremon waved a hand in front of his face.

"Yeech!" Theo almost threw up. "Worst reek ever!"

"Ew! It's in my nose!" Yui shrieked then begun shaking Joe and Mimi. "I can't get it out of my nose!"

"I'm not a little boy, I'm mama's sweet sapling!" Puppetmon stuck out his tongue.

"Wait...are you saying, you're my little brother?" MetalEtemon lifted his shades to peer at Puppetmon – yet from where they were standing, the group couldn't see what his eyes looked like.

"I'M OLDER THAN YOU, MAMA HAD US FIRST!" Puppetmon ragged.

"Oh, well, your shorter than me, and I'm shinier, so clearly I am the better son!" MetalEtemon declared.

Now this was change of pace: MetalEtemon is greedy and power-hungry while Puppetmon is just a psychopath.

"Oh lord, are we watching two mama boys, fighting over Mad Mama..." Yui cuts herself off from speaking like the monkey. "Over Despair?"

"It appears so, but we can't let this chance to escape pass us by!" Theo said and gestures at the others.

Joe quickly pushed Mimi to get her moving. "Exactly, let's take this chance to escape!"

"Sounds good to me!" Ogremon agreed

"BULLET HAMMER!" Puppetmon yells and blasts at MetalEtemon.

The monkey lifts his hand with a gleeful grin, as the blasts were deflected off them.

"Number One Punch!" MetalEtemon shouts, before sucker punching Puppetmon.

The Dark Master was sent flying back, and tears of sap leaking from his eyes.

"Now you've done it! I'm telling Mama you hit me!" Puppetmon growled, holding his hammer up threateningly.

"Mom'll agree, little children should act like little children. And as her bigger, better son, it's in my right to discipline the unruly brats that are her spawn." MetalEtemon brags, hands on hips and leaning forward with a smug grin.

"MAMA LOVES ME, NOT A BUTT UGLY MONKEY LIKE YOU!" Puppetmon shrieks in childish tantrum.

He swung the hammer down at MetalEtemon, both completely unaware of Ogremon, Joe, Palmon, Gomamon, Mimi, Theo and Yui fleeing the scene.

* * *

Meanwhile the other group had arrived to Puppetmon's mansion, Tai was observing the area through his mini-telescope.

"There's two guards." Tai note then handed his digivice to Izzy, "Look them up."

"The first one is Floramon. A Child-Level plant Digimon who has evolved into the shape of a reptile. Her special attack is Allergy Shower. The other one is Deramon. He's a Perfect-Level that looks like a bird at first glance, but he is a strange Digimon with vegetation growing out of his back. His special attack is Royal Nuts."

"Aww, they're kind of cute." Haruna commented

"The second one's a Perfect-Level?"

"Yes."

"But I doubt we'll have a problem beating these two." Tentomon believed. "Let's go on ahead, everyone."

* * *

Back in the forest…

"What the heck… is this?" MetalEtemon had kept hitting himself. "Ouch! Ow ow ow!"

Puppetmon had started the strings manipulation on his opponent. "Take that!"

"Stop! It tickles!"

"Now while I have him occupied; I'll get … Huh?!" Puppetmon had just noticed that the smaller group had run off during the scuffle. "They're gone!"

"What did you say?!" MetalEtemon angrily tore himself free from the strings upon overhearing his would-be victims and queen have gone AWOL.

"This is all your fault!" Puppetmon accused.

"No, it's yours!" MetalEtemon tried to tackle him again only to slam into a tree.

"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!" an angry woman's voice thundered, causing the two digimon to pause and look over.

Lady Despair had finally gotten free of the Swords of revealing light. "Enough of this petty sibling fighting!" she seethed. "This is no time for silly banter, the humans and guardians are still at large!"

Puppetmon threw up his hands defensively. "Okay, okay! I was just on my way to start hunting them down myself!" He grumpily started to walk back towards his mansion.

"Well, he's on the actual track." Sierra quipped then she turned to MetalEtemon. "And you ought to get hunting too! This is the last time I'll tolerate two of my offspring fighting amongst themselves over petty matters!"

"What a brat! Somebody ought to educate him." Metal Etemon grumbled about Puppetmon. "But good, at least I won't anyone else interfere with me anymore." He turns left and begins to track down the escapees. "Just wait! You'll regret having made light of me!"

Before MetalEtemon could take a step further, he was grabbed by the ear, and pulled closer to Sierra.

"Oh no, you don't! I don't see you for eight years, and this is how you greet me?" Lady Despair scolds.

"Ah! Mad Artist Mama! I...uuh...how are you?" MetalEtemon asked nervously. Only to be crushed, as she hugged him tightly, kissing the top of his head.

"Oh, my darling, I thought you were gone," Lady Despair said. "I almost gave into grief, if your hourglass didn't still keep running. And you're back, I missed you terribly, even your songs."

MetalEtemon blushed, as she pulled him away, and caressed his face happily.

"I'm...I'm happy to see you too, Mama." MetalEtemon declared. "And I'm all pumped, powered up, and ready to pound those punks for disrespecting you!"

"And that you will, but you shouldn't be quarreling with your siblings!" Lady Despair said wagging her silver, talon finger.

"But he..." MetalEtemon starts to argue.

"Don't talk back!" Lady Despair scolds. "There are plenty of those fairies and children to eliminate, in fact they've split into two groups. But Beware, My Child. Those miserable brats destroyed your Brother Myotismon, MetalSeadramon," Lady Despair warns. "Don't let yourself become another notch on my broken heart."

"Awww. But Mama, you have no heart," MetalEtemon jokes lightly.

"You know what I meant, now be careful!" Lady Despair orders.

* * *

"Petit Thunder!" "Fireball!" "Baby Flame!"

They caught the two by surprise then the Deramon snapped. "What do you guys think you're doing attacking us out of nowhere?!"

"I think that's obvious! You're Puppetmon's minions, aren't you?" Agumon answered.

"That's where you're wrong!"

"We're not his flunkies at all." Floramon explained.

"Then what are you?" T.K. ran up to them.

"I don't know…" Deramon shrugs, "He thinks of us as his playmates, but we don't share the same feelings! Don't tell him I said this … But the truth is, we really hate Puppetmon! He's the most insufferable digimon ever!"

"And that 'Mother' of his..." Floramon shuddered. "There used to be more of us in the forest, but she used them to build the mansion, and when they complained, or tried to escape she..."

"We don't know what a mother is...but we wouldn't want her as one." Deramon. "And those that survived, she forced us to be Puppetmon's playmates, to add insult to indignity."

"Now that I remember." T.K. recalled. "Dana and I noticed that Puppetmon doesn't have any friends."

"Yeah! Yeah!" Patamon confirmed.

"Really?" Kari questioned. "Poor Puppetmon, he doesn't know the value of a true friend."

"Oh please, there's no need to encourage it." Gatomon lightly chided.

Kari just laughed.

"Well? Is Puppetmon inside?" Tai asked.

"No." Deramon informed them. "He's out."

"What should we do, Tai?" inquired Agumon.

"I say we sneak inside Puppetmon's mansion."

"So long as we're here, Deramon, could you take us there?" Kylie requested.

"Very well. Follow me." Deramon nods before turning to the group. "Ah, let me ask you one favor first. Please keep this a secret from Puppetmon."

"We got it." Everyone agreed.

* * *

In the meantime, the rest were hiding from MetalEtemon in the hollow of a tree. Mimi asked Ogremon, "Do your wounds still hurt?"

Ogremon replied. "I'm fine but I promise you, I'll return the favor for this one day."

"You don't have to. "

"No I must!" Ogremon pounded at his chest once with his right fist. "Otherwise I won't be at peace with myself. That's the code of honor every lone wolf upholds."

"Lone wolf?" Joe questioned, "By 'code of honor,' do you mean that policy about never leaving their benefactor until they've returned the favor in full?"

Mimi commented. "That's so old school."

Theo rolled her eyes. "So you claim, a lot of us witches and wizards follow that code if someone saves our life."

Ogremon looks away. "So what? I'm an old fashioned Digimon."

"Look, Ogremon is sulking!" teased Gomamon, causing the group to laugh.

* * *

Floramon and Deramon opened the front doors, allowing the group to walk in. In the main the foyer, sitting on the stairs was a wrapped present only for it to open like a jack in the box. Except instead of a jester there was a soldier with a M1A1 Thompson submachine gun and the bullets happened to be genuine!

This caused the heroes to shout and split up into two different groups: Deramon with Kylie, Tai, Kari, Gatomon, Haruna, Sora and Piyomon while the others were with Floramon.

"Wh-What the hell was that?!" Tai hollered. "You're not trying to lead us into a trap, are you?"

Deramon was greatly taken aback. "N-Not at all! We're too transparent to be as mean and underhanded as Puppetmon! Please believe me!" He bowed briefly.

"Onii-chan, let's believe him." Kari pleaded.

"Alright, but I've got my eye on you."

In the meantime, T.K.'s walked down the hallway where they found a seemingly harmless fire truck lying on the floor.

"It's a fire truck." Patamon observed.

"Don't touch it!" Floramon warned.

Haruna quickly used her magic to conjure vines to toss the firetruck out the window, where it exploded violently.

"Geez!" Beth rants as they reunited with the rest in the hallway. "What the hell kind of house is this to give to a child, let alone Puppetmon!?"

"Did Despair ever...indulge you in such ways with murderous gifts, Gato-sis?" Kylie asked cautiously.

"No, I believe this is just her indulging her child's whims, and preferences." Gatomon replied. "When I wanted to learn to fight, and sharpen my claws, Sierra gave gifts that helped to expand my talents. Sadly, I feel this is all Puppetmon knows, and being her children born of her black blood, they were rotten even if she was a mother like Sirene with them."

Kylie nods, sighing sadly.

"You don't think it was Puppetmon who..." Kari started to say, but sealed her lips.

"My thoughts are he would've bragged about it a long while ago," Sora spoke up. "It isn't him, nor was it MetalSeadramon, which leaves only those remaining two."

Kylie nods grimly.

Floramon gulps. "Be careful, of the dark masters, those two are the strongest, and most unrelenting," Floramon said. "But worst of all is the Jester."

"Piedmon is known for giving horrible plays, where torture and death are the norm, and the actors often perish." Deramon continue.

* * *

Back inside the empty tree Mimi had asked Ogremon a question.

"You want to know why I fight with Leomon?"

Theo and Yui perked up, this oughta be good.

"Yes. I want to know the reason behind why you two fight." Mimi insisted.

"Having a reason and all, that just complicates things! My destiny is twisted together with Leomon's. We're like eternal rivals."

"Then what will happen when one of you wins?"

"What'll happen when someone wins? I guess we'll cheer and feel happy to know who's stronger."

"And after that?"

"What d'ya mean after that?"

"What will you do if your rival was gone?"

"If Leomon was gone…? Don't go there! I don't even wanna think about that! Defeating Leomon is the only thing that has meaning in my life. If Leomon was gone, then I'd… I'd…"

"What you're saying is a logical contradiction. Think about it more carefully!"

"Shut up! Even if I am contradicting myself, I'm still going to beat Leomon! What happens afterwards… doesn't matter! I'll just think about that after I've beaten him!"

There was a sound outside, so they went to investigate. Then Theo's cellphone sounded off! She grabs it to see a text message from her crush Evan.

"Evan again?!" demanded Mimi.

"Now he's asking me if I'm at the beach!" Theo yelped.

Yui glanced around furtively. "Let's not jump to conclusions. Maybe nobody heard it."

"Found you~!" MetalEtemon was clinging to a vine right above them!

"Run!"

* * *

"Who should I play with next?" Puppetmon mumbled as he walked back to his mansion. However he was in for an unpleasant surprise.

"He's coming this way." Tai watched through his telescope.

They found a canon in front of one of the windows but didn't know how to work it. Deramon and Floramon agreed to use it but once again pleaded not to tell Puppetmon.

"It's all ready." Floramon noted.

Deramon nodded and pointed. "FIRE!"

The canon went off and began shooting the cannonballs all around Puppetmon, who was caught by complete surprise.

"Wh-What?! What's happening?!" He panicked and dove behind a tree root, before looking up to see. "Someone's shooting the cannon..." then Puppetmon glared. "It must be those Chosen children and their guardian friends!" He jumped out from his hiding place and charged.

* * *

"Where did you go~?" MetalEtemon called out.

This time the group was under bushes and foliage, however this hiding spot wasn't going to last long. They needed to find a better place to hide.

Just then they heard a growl behind them. Out from the bushes came a beast type Digimon, he had brilliant yellow fur with red stripes, two long fangs that protruded out of its mouth, and a tight small waist framing a ferocious-looking body frame. The claws on all four of its limbs gleamed like steel.

"Wh-Who is that?" Mimi asked.

"Is it friend? Or foe?" Joe asked nervously.

"We're gonna find out." Theo said determinedly.

**_To be continued…_**


	34. O Wind o light Saberleomon

"Don't come any closer!" Mimi yelled even as she took a step back.

"All right! I'll take care of him!" Gomamon said sternly.

"Leave it to me!" Theo agreed.

"Wait! Calm down." The lion suddenly spoke in a voice that I remember hearing before.

"That voice belongs to…" Mimi mumbled.

"Hey, you bastard…" Ogremon aggressively shouted at the lion, making this stand-off still really tense. The sounds of a large tree falling soon rang in our ears.

"You can't escape from me!" MetalEtemon's voice from a distance.

"We'll talk later." The lion said. "Climb onto my back, quickly."

MetalEtemon crash landed in the clearing where the mysterious lion digimon carried off the fairies and the children with their digimon, he glanced around as Lady Despair materialized beside him.

"Their around here, Mad Mama. I can sense it." MetalEtemon declared.

"I can too.." Lady Despair said, shutting her eyes and letting her scepter float in front of herself. "_Whisper Softly, let it out. SHOW ME THOSE CHILDREN, POINT THEM OUT!"_

A beam of red shoots from the eyes of the skull on her scepter, and the footprints of the kids, Ogremon, the fairies and the lion digimon appear, glowing red and showing a path.

"Just you wait, Mother!" Metaletemon said, growling as he dug up a footprint to crush with his hand. "I'll find them for sure!"

Lady Despair huffed, and moved to walk over, but heard the canon fire off in the distance.

"What the..?" Lady Despair turns. "I knew I shouldn't have given Puppetmon those canons..." Lady Despair calls out over her shoulder. "MetalEtemon I'll be back."

Lady Despair spins on her heels, and vanishes in a mini twister of red mist.

"No prob, Mama. I can handle these brats." MetalEtemon grins, cracking his knuckles.

They rode on the saber-toothed beast who ran miles in only fifteen minutes, Ogremon easily caught up even if he didn't stop complaining. Eventually, they reached a grey and ruined city covered in rubble.

"It's over here." The lion creature said as he walked.

Yui and Theo were the first ones to climb off and walk alongside, the two older girls were looking around uncertainly.

"Joe, look at that!" Gomamon suddenly pointed towards a ruined building.

"What?! This is the restaurant where Matt, Beth, Dana and I were forced to work!" Joe gaped.

"Man, they really let this place go." Theo remarked.

"But this is weird. It was supposedly next to a beautiful lake." Gomamon recalled.

"Everyplace has gone through drastic changes." The lion informed soberly. "In any case, let's hide ourselves in here."

Inside the restaurant was dilapidated and abandoned as the rest of the city. Once Mimi, Joe and their digimon climbed down, the lion beast glowed a soft gold light before turning into a warmly familiar face.

"Leomon!" Gomamon exclaimed.

"I knew it! It was our friend Leomon!" Joe cheered.

"You're alive! Leomon!" Mimi was the first to reach him besides Theo.

"Friend of yours?" Yui asked.

"He was the lion humanoid digimon that helped us out when we fought Devimon." Theo explained to Yui as she gently pulled away from Leomon.

"It's been awhile since I've last seen the beloved Chosen Children and the guardians."

"You can evolve now, Leomon?" Palmon asked.

"Yes. It seems that after I was bathed in the light of the Digivice. According to Andromon, it might be because the Chosen Children's digivices touched me while I was on File Island." Leomon then smashed his fist against the wall in frustration. "However, I return to my original form almost immediately. I still cannot control it."

"This is boring me to tears! They're only talking about you!" Ogremon scoffed. "But that still doesn't mean you're a match for me! Leomon! Fight me!"

Of course it went as well as one would expect seeing as Ogremon's arm was still hurt.

"Make sure to let your wounds heal first. Then we'll fight."

Just then there was the sound of a floorboard falling causing the group to jump in surprise and alarm, Palmon had noticed and rushed to Mimi.

Leomon stepped forward. "Who's there? Come on out!"

And to their great surprise, a frightened Gekomon and an Otamamon jumped out of the hole.

"Please spare us, tama!"

"Please spare our lives, ribbit!"

"You two are…" Mimi noticed.

"Gekomon and Otamamon!" Palmon gaped.

Now these guys I definitely don't remember meeting, Theo comments. But Theo and Kylie sure did.

The frog and tadpole looked up and recognized Mimi. "It's our Princess, ribbit! Princess!"

Gekomon ran up for Mimi to hug while the Otamamon was hopping excitedly.

* * *

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE" Deramon shouted as Floramon kept loading the cannon.

"Hey, you two…" Tai tried to speak. "I think that's more than enough…"

"It's looks like they're letting out all their resentment with all those shots." Sora speculated.

"Let them keep at it, they'll tire themselves out." Beth said.

"YOU GUYS…!" Puppetmon screamed from outside. Floramon and Deramon briefly stuck their heads out the window, panicked and ran away.

"We're sorry!"

"That's okay, we'll take care of this!" Dana called to them.

"THAT'S MY HOUSE!" Puppetmon screams, almost hysterically. "MY MAMA MADE ME THAT HOUSE FOR ME, **NOT YOU!**"

Gatomon sneers down from him as she stood on the top of a canon. "Well, we don't give a flying rodents rump what your mother makes," she hisses. "And that includes YOU in that group."

"Mangy Cat! Mama was good to you, and this is how you repay her," Puppetmon hollers. "By taking the house from her fave son!?"

"Really? I could've sworn that was Myotismon," Gatmon said cattily. "After all, she said she was going to give him all of the digital world."

"You lie..." Puppetmon said in shock, before stomping his foot in rage. "YOU LIE! LIE! LIE! LIAR!"

The front doors to the house burst open, showing Tai had kicked them open.

"Look, I know it's the bad guys house but the point for kicking the door open?" Sara G asked.

"Dramatic effect," Zaira sighed. "Well, it's something all men like to do."

"It's time we finished this once and for all, Puppetmon. Your mama isn't here to bail you out of trouble!" Tai declared.

"If you want to play with me so badly, then let's take it outside." Puppetmon sneered, before turning and running off.

"Wait!" Tai shouts, the kids and digimon giving chase.

"Wait! It could be a trap," Kylie cried out, chasing after them.

"Let's transform!" Beth shouts, and the heart glowed, before the girls were in their fairy forms.

They chased after Puppetmon, but soon all skidded to a halt, as the massive forms of the Garthim burst out of the ground, eyes glowing pink, and claws snapping, and hands clicking intimidatingly with larger versions of Vegiemon.

"Hahaha! Morons!" Puppetmon laughed, laying on his back to kick his legs gleefully in the air.

"T-tai, I warned you!" Kylie gasped, not pleased to see the automatons.

"Oh, see, T.K.?' Puppetmon called out, causing T.K. to turn and frown at Puppetmon. "My Mama really loves me; she gives me all these toys to play with."

"You still don't have any true-blue friends!" Dana snapped.

Puppetmon eyes widened, before he growled in anger.

"My Mama's Garthim are immune to magic," Puppetmon snaps. "So, I'll make sure they clip your wings, before I have you pinned to my wall as a reminder what happens when people insult my MAMA!" He stands up, and punches his fist into the air. "GARTHIM!"

The Garthim had the kids circled.

"We can still help defend the kids," Haruna said. "And we know their weak spot."

"Yeah, we can handle them everyone!" Tai said holding up his digivice.

* * *

Back in the wrecked restaurant, the group was seated in chairs to hear what else had happened in their absence.

"Why were you two hiding in here?" Mimi asked the Gekomon and Otamamon. "What happened to the castle?"

The two amphibians immediately got teary eyed.

"Our castle was destroyed no thanks to Dark Masters, ribbit."

"Not just that, they ambushed us. We barely escaped with our lives by the time we made it out here, tama."

"That's terrible." Mimi hung her head sadly as did Joe.

"Those guys slaughter every last one of the Digimon who won't listen to their orders." Ogremon grumbled. "A load of crock if you ask me."

"We cannot allow them to get away with this any longer." Leomon declared. "That is why I have continued to search for you all this time. We need your abilities to beat the Dark Masters and rid this world of the powers of evil."

There was a great number of Digimon who lost their lives in the catastrophe, but there were still many who survived.

"We cannot allow them to get away with this any longer." Leomon said steadily, "That is why I've continued to search for you the Chosen Children and the guardians all this time. We need your abilities to defeat the Dark masters and rid this world of evil!"

"Then we should have fought the dark masters when we first came to this world." Mimi mumbled. "Why did we start off on File Island instead? I don't see the point."

Ogremon laughed derisively, "Are you stupid? If you'd faced them first, you would be dead long before you even knew what was going on!"

"But then so many Digimon wouldn't have had to die for us." Mimi said quietly gripping her dress.

Leomon spoke, "I may not know, but there was a reason you were all first landed on File Island as a test."

"To test us?" questioned Palmon.

By then they were all looking at him.

"Yes it was to determine whether the Chosen children, the guardians or even Sirene's heir could save our world. If Devimon had destroyed you on File Island, it would be clear you wouldn't make it far." Leomon explained. "But you've successfully passed the tests with flying colors, and grown enough force to face the Dark masters on equal ground. Now is the time, where are the others? We must gather them up immediately."

Theo scowled at Mimi, who'd walked towards a window. "Little miss _I don't wanna fight anymore_ wimped out on our quest just like Matt - they thought their issues were more much important than keeping a promise to our dying friends."

"Well, w-we've kind of gone our separate ways for now." Joe explained to confused Leomon, "We're in the middle of another except this time we're struggling with ourselves!"

"HA! If I wanted to struggle with myself, I'd have gone looking for dementors to face the horrors of the past the hard way."

"Alright I had enough! Theo, maybe growing up where you or Beth did has made you a little touchy, but you're starting to sound unfair..." Joe interjected indignantly to the older girl.

"Oh, I've never heard of that before, but I did hear this other comment." Theo sneered then started to get more agitated as she got up to pace. "It's called the 'if you see a witch born into a no maj neighborhood on anything but a burnt-out Comet 2-60, you better stop them because they stole it' routine. Yeah, I've heard that one. But you see, I thought it was the no maj born deal, when actually, it was the being more assertive attitude. Oh, thank you for sharing that with me, Joe Kido."

"Comet 2-60?" Gomamon looked confused, as did the other Digimon.

"A broomstick brand." Yui explained sadly, she knew where this was going.

Theo is usually laid-back, passionate and wise-cracking, she never just paces. She's an adventurer, a runner, lively type of girl. The fact that she's just about to spit out a distressing event that's happened nearly a year ago proves just how much this whole situation has upset the fire guardian.

Coldly, the fire guardian stood up straight, "Just let me show you two whiners what happened the last time people just sat around not wanting to fight!"

Both the kids, and six Digimon watched completely transfixed as she starts to unwrap the large cloth bandages she had on her left arm since summer camp began. Neither one of the kids have seen her without it, not even while she's transformed or bathing. When they fell away… the whole group except for Yui, retreated in shock- having seen the injury firsthand- on Theo's arm someone had _carved words right into her arm_ with something sharp!

Mimi's hands flew to her mouth, Palmon grabbed her arm tightly. Joe, the Otamamon and Gekomon looked like they were going to be sick. Gomamon was stunned. Ogremon's eyes had widened.

"Who did this?!" Leomon sounded righteously angry.

Theo barely held back her sniffles, "A fanatical old hag wrote it on my arm so that I would never forget."

"B-but forget what? Who-why would they do such a horrible thing?!" Mimi almost choked the moment she found her voice.

"According to her and her nutcase dark overlord… Sara, Zaira, Haruna, Yui and _I_ had no right to the magic we were born with… no right to the education we were getting, no right to know about the magical world."

Yui put a hand on the other girl's shoulder, "That word is supposed to spell out a really offensive term used for those with non-magical heritage, mostly used by elitist witches and wizards who think that they're better than everyone else. Basically it's just another extension of bigotry."

Joe finally caught his breath, "But this isn't supposed to happen, let alone in…"

Yui shook her head glumly, "It shouldn't even happen anywhere, but it does."

"No sulking in isolation is going to save you and neither is your wardrobe, or your fancy Tokyo address nor can you escape it. Because when your name is on the hit list of every mortal hating creep, none of that matters. They only see one thing." She spreads her arms out, referring to her, Yui, Joe and Mimi. "Nomaj borns, the low-lives decide to hate without even knowing you or caring."

The Digimon all gave her looks of sympathy.

"You know, this... this really gets to me." Joe admits. "When are we gonna stop doing this to each other? Why can't we see each other as human beings and not judge one another based on looks, beliefs, status, race or anything else? I'm sorry you had to go through this, Theo."

* * *

The redvegiemon were easy to take down the garthim were a whole other story entirely.

"Agumon, warp-evolve to...WARGREYMON!" WarGreymon quickly flew up into the sky to prepare a deadly dive with his dramon killer.

The two attacks collided and caused a large explosion that blew back both Wargreymon and Puppetmon.

"I'll show you!" Puppetmon extended his hands strings shooting out to entangle themselves on Wargreymon.

The armored Digimon grunted, "My body is moving on it's own! Everyone, get out of the way!"

Puppetmon was commandeering a reluctant Wargreymon to attack the heroes.

"We better level up!" Kylie called to Beth.

"Right!"

In a burst of colorful sparkles the two girls appeared in their Enchantix form.

"Ah! Time to deals with you once and for all!" Puppetmon shouts, tugging on the strings, Wargreymon was pulled to attack Kylie.

"Look out, Kylie!" WarGreymon cried out.

"Rainbow Barrier!" Kylie casts, creating a rainbow-like glass shield around WarGreymon, slicing off the strings.

"Oh Pallas Athena, Daughter of Lightning and Prudence, impale these villains with your spears of War!" Beth chants.

And from the heart, came a thousand spears of purple magic, and shot forth, impaling the chests of the Garthim. The beings turned grey and fell over in heaps.

"No fair!" Puppetmon shouts.

"It's time for you to be disciplined!" Kylie shouts. She crosses her arms, and two long, thin swords of sunlight formed into her grasps.

"Waaaah!" Puppetmon shouts, turning to dash away.

Kylie brought down her two swords at Puppet on, but it was blocked by the silver staff of the scepter of Lady Despair.

"You rancid little flying pest!" Lady Despair snarls. "Not enough you seduced and killed my son. Myotismon, now your bullying my Baby!?"

Lady Despair lashes out at Kylie, who barely backs off from getting sliced by Sierra silver talon, and the two stand before each other, in defensive poses.

"Your 'baby' is a sadistic monster!" Kylie snaps.

"Oh, I'll rip your foul tongue out of that pretty mouth of yours!" Lady Despair hissed.

"Into the well of oblivion, drain this miserable wretch and drown her in a ring of darkness!" Lady Despair chants and a black pool forms around Kylie, who cries out as she's being drained of her magic, and reverts to human form.

"Now, to put an end to you, like your mother all those years ago!" Lady Despair snarls, she spins her scepter, before it morphs into a silver saber with a black crystal handle. "Die, pitiful pixie!"

But she was blocked by WarGreymon, who blocked Lady Despair attack with his Desmond killer.

"YOU WONT GET THE CHANCE!" WarGreymon bellows.

He forces Despair away, causing the spell on Kylie to break off, thou she faints as Gatomon, Kari and Sora rush to her side, assisting her up to get her bar rings.

Despair and WarGreymon clash, as the two block and strike at each other.

The detail was that they still had both the redvegiemon and the garthim to deal with. Birdramon and Kabuterimon quickly digivolved to ultimate level.

"Girls, leave the Garthim to us!" Garudamon dove.

"You focus on the redvegiemon!" MegaKabuterimon urged.

"Thanks!" Sara G nods and went back to fighting. "Naiad's Attack!"

"Springtime's gust!"

"Northern Tempest!"

"Electro beam!"

As instructed the girls were making short work of the redvegiemon while the digimon took calculated shots at the Garthim and their weak spots.

"Horn Buster!" MegaKabuterimon's attack landed right in front of Puppetmon and blew him back, this caused his mallet to be thrown upwards so that Garudamon crushed it in her talons.

Puppetmon whimpered fearfully surrounded by powerful enemies, especially when the fairy Beth flew down in front of him.

"It's over you little brat," Beth said. "This is your end."

"NO!" Lady Despair turns around, and blasts red lightning at the group.

"Ahhh!" Everyone cried out as they were all painfully struck.

"No, Dramon Killer!" WarGreymon cried out, slashing at Despair.

The woman turned, and was sliced, causing them all to gasp in joy over WarGreymon striking down Despair, or horror in Puppetmon. Only instead of being sliced to bits, she separated into two Lady Despair's.

"What!?" WarGreymon exclaimed. He then sliced at her again, only to create two more Sierra, and again, until there were ten Lady Despair's.

Everyone was horrified.

"Oh, your going to regret your actions against me and my own," Lady Despair's said holding up their scepters.

"**Ray-ecks, terra, seelie, indoniuum, insedrix, DESPAIR!**" Lady Despair bellows, before her scepter blasts WarGreymon from all sides.

"Ahhh!" WarGreymon yells in pain.

"WarGreyMon!" Tai yells in dismay.

"Stop, Sierra!" Gatomon turns, and digivolved into Angewomon.

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon cried out.

The angel clapped her hands together, and the rainbow mist poured out, and touched all the Despair's ending their attack.

"Aaaaaugh!" They all grabbed their throats, groaning in pain, all melting except for the main Despair.

"WRETCHED CHILD, HOW DARE YOU!?" Lady Despair screams, before bolting up into the air to fly after Puppetmon.

"Puppetmon, I have to check on your brother," Lady Despair calls out. "I leave these brats for you to deal with!"

"Okay, Mama!" Puppetmon waves happily. "I can handle them, I'm a big boy, not like that stupid MetalEtemon who needs you to hold his hand."

"Oh you..." Lady Despair huffs, before flying off to find MetalEtemon.

In the meantime, Puppetmon was thinking back to the last time he'd spoken to Cherrymon.

_"Please be careful around the Chosen Children! If you make light of them, even you may lose, Lord Puppetmon!"_

_"You're saying I… might lose?"_

_"They have something that you don't!"_

The wise old tree digimon had warned him not to underestimate the Chosen children, or the fairies. Puppetmon hadn't had Sierra around to stop her son when he destroyed Cherrymon for his words.

_'Something that I don't have? That's illogical!'_

"Morons! Don't think you've won just yet!" Puppetmon yelled at the heroes. "Well, I have something they don't either, I HAVE MAMA!"

Puppetmon's eyes flashed brightly, and causing his house to burst out of the ground, becoming a massive robot-like creature.

"Squash them flat!" Puppetmon orders, running from the group.

* * *

Back with the second group, an unwelcome visitor suddenly appeared in full view before them.

"Poor Child, I never would have done such a horrible thing," Lady Despair stated as she gripped Theo's injured arm tightly. "I am many things, but the one thing I can't stand it's a bigot."

Theo's hazel brown eyes widened. "You know..." she gasped in shock.

"Of course I know, I feed on negative emotions, they make my magic stronger," Lady Despair smirked. "And being near you, my magic prowess always got more potent. Ha! Those fools believe their 'pure blood' makes them more powerful," she laughed. "If anything, it's making them sicker, and crazier, all that inbreeding. I'm surprised Bellatrix has thumbs!"

Lady Despair snickered, and she spun around, taking on the form of a female metal etemon.

"That's the great thing about me, I never exclude, anyone is welcome into my fold," She throws her arms up dramatically. "Everyone has a purpose to serve in my Dark Empire, the darkness touches all! However, I think a familiar face has an old score to settle with you all. Ta-ta…" She smirked turning to the window outside before vanishing in a puff of dark pink smoke.

The sound of bounding footsteps was getting louder and louder. Yui looked outside and balked. "We got company, everyone."

Ogremon and Leomon tensed up themselves, knowing who she's referring to.

"Here comes that crazy monkey!" Ogremon grumbled.

Right on cue, MetalEtemon breaks down the doors. "I've finally found you, now here comes my time for revenge!"

Leomon stepped forward. "I will be your opponent. _Leomon warp digivolve to… SaberLeomon_."

"Fine by me! It don't matter who gets in my way. Don't expect me to show any mercy!"

"Then I won't either." Theo said with a glower.

In a flash of fiery red and yellow sparks, she and Yui transformed to their Digix form.

"And if you think I'm gonna date you willingly after all the stuff I heard about you..." Yui snapped at MetalEtemon. "You're nuts!"

"I'm nuts!" MetalEtemon cackled. "Nuts and Banana's for you, starshine!"

"How's this for 'starshine?'" Yui holds up her moon saber. "STARLIGHT BEAM!"

Yui fires a beam of starlight at MetalEtemon, sending him flying out of the restaurant, but when he hits the wall of a nearby house, instead of cries of pain, there's the sound of laughter.

"Ahahahahah! Stop that, it tickles!" MetalEtemon laughed.

Yui stopped her attack, stunned as MetalEtemon appeared to be perfectly fine.

"So, you like to play 'rough', huh? I can get behind that," MetalEtemon sneers. "After all, Starlight. My body is made of 'Chrome Digizoid', I'm as hard as I can possibly be, though I might get harder with you around, Baby."

MetalEtemon puckers his lips up, and Yui leans on the door frame, covering her mouth as her face turned green.

"Oh, I'm gonna hurl!" Yui groans.

"That's enough!" SaberLeomon growled, jumping in front of Yui almost protectively.

"Leomon! Don't!" Mimi cried.

"Let me handle this! All of you, get out of here! Nail Crusher!" SaberLeomon charged towards his opponent.

"Number One Punch!"

The attacks collided and blew both of them back, causing a massive explosion of dust.

"I can't let Leomon fight all by himself!" Gomamon becomes Ikkakumon but Joe stops him.

"I'll fight too!" Palmon declared but saw Mimi only holding her digivice.

Joe noticed this and went to his digimon. "Wait, let's do what SaberLeomon says and get out of here!"

"Forget it! Monkeybutt over there's not gonna let us skip on out of here!" Yui responded.

"We gotta help!" Theo said to Yui.

"Think a convergence of Fire and Stars will do the trick?" Yui wondered.

"Worth a shot."

"Infinity Arrow!" SaberLeomon's mane shoot out sharp needles towards MetalEtemon but it wasn't very effective.

"Come on, get on Ikkakumon!" Joe was urging Mimi.

"But Leomon…!"

"Now it's my turn." MetalEtemon cracked his metallic knuckles. "Full Metal Hip Attack!" He ran towards SaberLeomon and slammed him to the ground.

"Wait!" Ogremon suddenly ran up. "I'm the only one here who gets to beat Leomon!"

MetalEtemon turned to look at him. "What?"

"Stay back, Ogremon! You're no match for him!" SaberLeomon protested.

"Shut your trap! I'm sick of you getting to show off all the time!"

"No!" Mimi ran right out there.

"Mimi!"

Theo huffed rolling her eyes. "Oh sure, NOW you want to play the heroine!"

"You can't fight him with those injuries don't do it!"

"Mimi, get your butt out of here!" Theo snarled.

"Everyone's welcome to join…" MetalEtemon paused briefly to look at Theo and Yui in their transformed state. "Well except maybe the two cute pixies there. No need to push in line, I'll send you to your deaths one by one! Dark Spirits Deluxe!"

Everything had happened so quickly.

"Look out!" Theo throws up a fire wall to block the attack to protect Joe, Gomamon and Ogremon but Mimi had been too shocked to react other than falling to the ground. In that split second, SaberLeomon threw himself over her and took the full force of the attack. MetalEtemon just laughed at the pain he caused.

"No! SaberLeomon!" Joe yelled.

"Ikkakumon, ultra digivolve to... ZUDOMON!"

In the confusion, Mimi had hurries to SaberLeomon's side.

"No… I don't want this to happen again!" She whimpered.

"Hammer Spark!" Zudomon's bolt hit MetalEtemon's chest to no effect.

"Absolutely futile! My body has a full coating of chrome Digizoid metal!"

"Yeah, well let's see how good you do with spells! Crucio!"

"Theo!"

Her furious attack worked - for only five seconds. It knocked him back but he was soon on his feet again.

"Lousy little witch," MetalEtemon hissed. "Don't you realize what's coursing through my body!?" He lunges forward, and grabs Theo's hand, flipping the screaming girl over to land hard on her back.

"THEO!" Yui cried out in horror.

"My Mother's blood FEEDS on negative emotions," MetalEtemon chuckles. "Spells that cause excruciating pain? The worst thing you can possibly do, it's like pouring gasoline on the fire."

MetalEtemon twists Theo's arm in his grip, causing Theo let out a scream of pain, but the brutal monkey just shoved his foot onto her face.

Mimi actually screamed, "Stop it! Leave her alone!"

"I can only imagine the misery you caused my poor mama during my absence," MetalEtemon hissed. "So, I'll relish in breaking you, bit by bit, until your limp as a butterfly with it's wings torn off."

"GET OFF HER, YOU DAMN, DIRTY APE!" Yui cries out, reaching out her hand. "**Strings of Selene, silvery daughter of the light, pierce the night and set things right!**" And from her hand, tendrils of solid moonlight shot out, wrapping around the evil entity, and ripping it off Theo.

"Ahhh! I can't move!" MetalEtemon hollers, unable to pull free of the tendrils.

"You wretched creature," Zudomon growls. "I'll teach you not to harm ANYONE, female, or otherwise in such a ruthless manner again!"

Zudomon slams his hammer onto the ground, "VULCAN'S HAMMER!"

A bolt of yellow energy shaped like a arrow shot forth and struck MetalEtemon, who laughed, despite being immobilized.

"HA! It doesn't matter what you do, my body is made of Chrome Digizoid Metal," MetalEtemon brags. "The strongest metal there is and my Mad Artist Mama's black blood flows through me, so your pixie's magic is useless!"

"Then, maybe you'd care for this," Theo snaps, laying on the ground still weak. She lifts her injured arm, shaking lightly, as she begins to chant. "From the heart, beating flame, rise up and pour your spark of love within this vessel!"

Theo's chanting caused her body to glow bright red, and the glowing aura is removed, and flows over into Zudomon's hammer.

"Now, we try again: VULCAN'S HAMMER!" Zudomon hurls his glowing hammer at MetalEtemon.

"No matter what you attempt, it's useless." MetalEtemon flexed his muscles, while restrained by Yui. "Cause I'm Invincibl-aaaah!"

MetalEtemon cried out in pain as the hammer struck hard in a flash of bright light, and a spider web of crack spread out on his chest.

"No! I'm breaking apart," MetalEtemon wails in despair and pain. "My Wonderful Lustre, how is this happening to me?!"

Yui released him from the spell, and hurries over to Theo, kneeling next to her friend.

Just as the two had come up with a new spell, it seems Yui was coming up with a new one. "Moonbeams be healed." Yui chants, and from her fingertips, a sparkling, white, glittering light fell over Theo.

The fire fairy guardian was able to stand up, a little wobbly, but completely healed.

"It's a spell, a part of our awakening our greater powers," Theo tells MetalEtemon. "My spell transferred all the love I feel for the people here, my friends, into the weapon of Zudomon." Theo sneers at MetalEtemon as Yui smiles in success.

"LOVE, MetalEtemon. That's your mother's greatest weakness," Yui explains.

"And my hammer is made from Chrome Digizoid metal," Zudomon states. "Combining the two now has given us the advantage we needed!"

"What?!" MetalEtemon snapped.

Only for SaberLeomon to pounce and give the finishing blow. "Nail Crusher!" His claws punctured him in the chest where the heart would be and it slowly started to crack.

MetalEtemon was unprepared for the Nail Crusher attack SaberLeomon busted a whole right through MetalEtemon's chest.

"Aaaaaah! You'll all pay big time!" MetalEtemon screamed as his body dissolved to data dust. And a vial of black blood appears, falling to the floor with a shatter, spilling the black ooze across the ground.

"And don't come back!" Theo snarled waving her fist.

"Quick! Remember what The Dark Spectre Queen said!" Joe shouts. "We have to purify it now!"

"STAR STORM SCREAM!" Yui chants.

"IFRIT INFERNO!" Theo shouts.

The beams of pink starlight shot down from the sky, and a twister of lames shot down on the small puddle of black blood, and the girls kept up the barrage, and when they stopped. Well, there was quite a deep hole left over, but the foul substance had been purified.

"We won…"

Theo and Yui suddenly were flung to the ground as a high pitched, hysterical scream blasted into them both. "NO! MY SON! METAL-ETEMON!"

Her horrible, spine-chilling screams, rolling over the forest, causing the digimon to cower in horror. Joe and Mimi shivered, hugging each other before turning their attention to SaberLeomon. He changed back to Leomon only to slump forward.

"Leomon!" Mimi wailed running to him.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the forest, a fleeing Puppetmon ran into MetalGarurumon.

"You came at a good time! Fight him like you did last time!" He pointed to WarGreymon. Only to see that the mechanized wofl has not moved an inch. "Huh? Listen to me!" Puppetmon threw out his strings onto MetalGarurumon. "Now go! Finish them off! W-Why? Why aren't my powers working?"

"Of course they won't work." Matt sternly walked out of the forest. "There's no way he'll obey someone who can kill the people he calls friends while not even feeling sorry about it."

"What? Now I'm mad… Everyone just needs to do what I tell them to do!" Puppetmon angrily charged forward intending to destroy them both… which turned out to be a fatal mistake.

MetalGarurumon sank his steel fangs into Puppetmon's middle and flew up into the air. He didn't attack right away because he didn't want the others who were nearby to be dragged into this battle.

Puppetmon tried to hit MetalGarurumon's head. "Let go of me! Let go!" He yelled flailed his arms and legs like a spoiled child.

Until Finally MetalGarurumon tossed him up and… "Cocytus Breath!"

"BABY!" Lady Despair screamed in horror. "Poor little puppet! GRRR!" She was nearly hit by Puppetmon's marionette control bar, as she flew over the forest, and fell to the ground next to a blue and dying Puppetmon. "My poor baby," The sorceress falls to her knees, stroking at Puppetmon's head sadly. "What have they done to my wonderful children?"

"Mama..." Puppetmon whimpers his final words. "What did Cherrymon mean...what do those kids have...that I don't?"

Lady Despair trembled, as she leaned over to kiss Puppetmon on the head gently. "Friends..." She cradled Puppetmon's body, until it disintegrated into data.

With Puppetmon's death, the giant house robot stopped in its tracks and begun to fall apart.

Matt walked over to Lady Despair, who lets out an anguished scream, lashing out at him. Her sorrow soon turned to rage, and she focused it all on Kylie.

"You miserable little chit! If Piedmon had only killed YOU as well as your mother," Lady Despair waved a hand, causing a blast of magic to strike at the children and the fairies accompanying them. "NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!" before she falls into a sobbing heap, disappearing in a burst of pink flames.

The guardians, the children and their digimon were shocked. Kylie actually gasped, her hand on her mouth. Angewomon placed her hands on her shoulders while Kari patted Kylie's arm sympathetically.

"Matt!" Sora shouted having spotted him just ten feet across them.

Beth noticed then her gaze hardened as she turned away. Even Matt had looked stunned at Despair's revelation but said nothing, trying to avoid catching the eye of anyone else, then he and MetalGarurumon turned to walk away.

The ground started to rumble and just as it had with MetalSeadramon's death, the forestall area of Spiral Mountain began to recede.

"An earthquake!" Kari cried.

"Since Puppetmon has been defeated, the forest is disappearing!" Izzy informed.

"Run! We've gotta get out of this forest!" Tai hollered.

Quickly the group escaped before the ground disappeared under them.

* * *

Before he was caught in the blast, Leomon was prepared to die at the very moment he chose to shield Mimi with his body.

"Don't die, Leomon!" Mimi wept on Leomon's chest.

Theo was holding his hand.

"Leomon!" "Leomon…" Yui, Palmon and Gomamon were also in tears. Behind them, the Gekomon and the Otamamon watched solemnly.

"Darn it…" Joe yelled. "Toilet paper won't fix this!" He then threw his duffle bag on the ground in frustration.

They had no other choice but to watch Leomon's end.

"The forest…" Leomon suddenly said. "The forest is returning…"

They all followed his gaze to see the forest moving.

"It appears your friends… have defeated Puppetmon… I knew they would. They're very strong."

"Please, don't die!" Mimi pleaded.

"There's still so much to do!" Yui cried.

Leomon let out a long sigh. "Do you remember the Village of Beginnings?"

_What is he bringing that up for?_ Yui thought. Maybe he was getting flashbacks of fond memories right before his death?

"There's no need for of any of you to be sad. For I will be reborn in the Village of Beginnings." Leomon then looked at a tearful Ogremon. "My apologies, Ogremon. My fight with you will have to be postponed until… then…"

"Leomon…"

"Did I ever tell you? After a Digimon dies, they are reborn in the Village of Beginnings. They become digieggs and have another chance at life. So… there's no need for sorrow."

His eyes crinkling and his smile soft, Leomon nodded. The bottom half of Leomon's body radiated faintly with light. His cells disintegrated into glittering particles, starting from the tips of his feet, that rose silently up to the sky.

Leomon continued. "The battle is only beginning. I'm sorry to involve you in our fight, but you, Chosen Children and Guardians alike, are the only ones who can save this world. And Kylie...she is descended from greatness, and even without knowing that, she's outdone herself in stepping out of their shadows," Leomon said weakly. "A massive feat, as her mother is our own guardian nymph, and her father...was..."

The four were stunned, did Leomon know Kylie's biological father?'

"Who? Please, tell me, who is he!? Where is he," Yui asked desperately. "Is he alive!?"

"He is...alive..." Leomon said.

Leomon's data then turned to dust that rose up towards the blue sky…

"NO!" Mimi wailed.

Theo and Yui hugged each other. Ogremon turned his head, letting the tears fall freely.

Joe gathered himself long enough to speak. "Girls, let's go to the Village of Beginnings."

"Yes. If we go to the Village of Beginnings, it won't just be Leomon waiting for us. All of the Digimon who are gone, like Chuumon and Piximon, will be reborn too." Mimi agreed still crying.

"You're right! That's why we need to go find that village!"

"Okay, let's get going and find the Primary Village!" Joe declared

"There's just one problem: it's dead!" Ogremon bluntly informed.

Theo, Joe, Mimi, Palmon, and Gomamon were stunned.

"There isn't anything there!" the ogre explained. "It changed completely because of the Dark Masters!"

"It can't be!" Mimi said.

"Primary Village will never return to the way it was, not until the Dark Masters are defeated once and for all!" Ogremon said.

"Well then, we have to help bring it back!" Joe said. "Mimi, I know this is hard for you, but we have no other choice but to fight them."

Mimi sat there, looking down sadly at the ground. She clenched her fists tight around her pink dress.

"We need you, Mimi! Please say yes!" Palmon pleaded. "I'd rather fight then to watch my friends die like this."

"We can't forget our fallen friends; we're doing this for them." Yui explained. "Let them be the fuel for your burning heart, let the fact that they are not standing with us allow you to move as quick as the wind and let their sprits guide your blade as it plunges deep into the belly of evil... "

"That's insightful, where'd you pick that up?" Theo commented in surprise.

"I still remember some lines from my school play." Yui blushed.

Yet the words served to inspire Mimi. Her expression became more serious and determined.

"You're all right." Mimi said finally. "I'll do whatever is necessary for Primary village to come alive again. Ogremon, will you come with us?"

"As if I'd want to team up with you guys!" the ogre grumbled. " But I still have a fight to settle with Leomon… Guess I'll just have to tag along."

"Thanks! Having you around is reassuring!" Joe promised him.

"Now that that's settled, we should go and seek out some allies." Ogremon suggested. " There should be Digimon around who are still opposing the Dark Masters. We should go look for them!"

"Sounds like a plan! " Theo said standing up.

"Princess tama, can we come with you too, tama?" Otamamon said.

"No way!" Mimi said. The two amphibians looked crestfallen.

"Why not?!" Gekomon pleaded.

"Only as long as you promise not to call me princess anymore, and call me Mimi instead!" Mimi said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Mimi! Please take us with you, ribbit!"

"Of course!" Mimi told them, giggling. Gekomon and Otamamon danced around excitedly.

Now their group had a goal set: Reach Primary village and gather up more friends to fight the Dark Masters.

**_To be continued…_**


	35. Machinedramon's pursuit

**Ch 35: Machinedramon's pursuit**

_The past_

They were getting closer; she could hear them even from the second floor of her makeshift house. They were too far from the castle dimensional gates for them to escape together. Which meant...

Sirene looked left and right, then held her infant daughter to her bosom. "I'm so sorry my little girl. But I would rather you live far away than watch you be killed."

And she knew just the place. The nymph waved her hand gently, revealing a portal from beyond it a cottage can be seen.

"I'm so sorry Father...I won't be coming home..." The nymph whispered tearfully. "Please care for my daughter."

She then looked to her baby, removing one of the extra baby blankets.

"Be strong, my Kylie." The nymph kissed her forehead. "And know that your mother will always love you...Farewell."

And she held her infant daughter to the portal, sending the baby straight to the domicile of her grandfather. Once through the portal closed one last time.

Now to stare down her executioners. Grimly, the nymph fetched a rag-doll and wrapped in the blanket she removed earlier and pretended to cradle it close. Hopefully this trick will keep them from tracking down her child long enough.

"So we meet at last, Nymph."

Sirene forced herself to tense up and place the doll into the empty bassinet then stand protectively in front of it.

"We finally meet face to face, Piedmon." The nymph replied coolly, knowing the swords in his hands were intended for her and for Kylie.

She spread her arms out as if hoping to stop his advance towards the cradle.

"Do you truly believe you can stop me? It is to laugh!" the jester sneered.

"I can very well try." Sirene answered. She never even flinched at the advance upon her.

So, the sword was plunged right through her heart. The nymph gasped; red blood stained her gown.

From the door frame, a woman's voice laughed. "Oh, nicely done, my son." The Voice of Despair spoke.

Briefly Sirene looked at her own wound, eyes full of acceptance and resignation.

"Aslan will not allow you to win..." she choked.

She stumbled a little before falling on her back, the final word she breathed was the name of her child. "Kylie..."

"Maybe..." Lady Despair chuckled. "But let's see him fare so easily, when I have your daughter executed before your beloved subjects very eyes." Sierra turns to the bassinet, clutching her hands together eagerly. "Come with me, you little..." Lady Despair pulls back the blanket, only to choke out a gasp of shock, which soon turned to rage. "WHAT!? **IMPOSSIBLE!**" She picked up the ragdoll, and hurled it at Piedmon, who impaled it on his sword, gaping in disbelief.

"SHE GOT AWAY!" Lady Despair fumed. "HER DAUGHTER IS GONE, **HIM** ONLY KNOWS WHERE!"

Lady Despair spins back to point a finger at the bassinet, and pink flames shoot out and burn the bassinet, and the flames soon spread throughout the house.

"I want her FOUND, Piedmon! Do you hear me!?" Lady Despair storm towards her son, as crimson mist teleports herself and him to safety. "Find me that girl. **FIND SIRENE'S HEIR!**"

* * *

_Present day_

The guardians nor the Chosen children knew of this for they were still reeling from Despair's revelation even as they walked down a lone highway in the middle of the desert. Gatomon was also dumbstruck but chose to remain stoic, fearing that a breakdown would crumble the others' willpower. Yet she and the others were also very worried about Kylie's emotional state.

"Let's just keep moving, it'll give Kylie time to process this information." Zaira said awkwardly. "Right now, she's going through the seven stages of grief. Shock..."

Kylie looked as though she'd gone tharn on them. "But how?"

"Denial and bargaining." Zaira listed off then did a double take, "Oh wait, nix that she skipped on to fear."

Kylie shivered. "He did it... "

Zaira continued uncomfortably, "She should be reaching her angry phase right about... now."

Then the blonde bookworm's face hardened considerably. "I'll make him pay dearly."

Zaira then sighed. "Lastly discouragement."

Only for Kylie to actually shout into the distance, "Just wait you Piedmon, once we've finished Machinedramon, you're next!"

Sora shook her head sadly. "Nope, she's stuck on anger."

Kari meanwhile had been coughing for the past hour yet refused to admit she was ill. The eight-year-old girl slowed down as the group kept marching ahead as Dana noticed what was wrong. Then as Kari was about to fall over the youngest Pantheon daughter caught her.

"I don't think Kari looks to well." Dana said in concern.

Tai rushed to his little sister's side. "Kari!"

Quickly they got her to a bus stop where there was more shade. Sara G felt the child's forehead then pulled out a water bottle and handkerchief which she moistened with the water it to place on Kari's forehead. "I'm no first aid expert but if I had to take a guess, it looks like heat stroke."

"No. Her cold must have come back." Sora theorized. "They do say summer colds are hard to get rid of."

It would make sense that Kari could relapse from her illness if she had only just recovered from it - especially after spending so much time outdoors.

Gatomon leaned over the bench to look at her human partner. "Kari… how do you feel?"

Kari gave her a weak smile. "I'm fine." Of course, no one believed it with the state she was in.

"Why didn't you say something before? I bet you haven't been feeling that great for a while now." Tai questioned grimly.

"Because… If we don't hurry, our world will-" Kari coughed again.

"But Kari…"

Don't worry, I plan to put the part where they talk to Vanessa - the detail is that the group did when Tai, Izzy, Beth and Kylie had already gone out to get the medicine for Kari.

"It would've been better if we hadn't brought Kari with us to this place." Tai said to himself.

"What!? We can't save either the Digimon world or Earth without Kari's help. She's a Chosen Child too." Izzy protested.

"But she's still in second grade… And she just got over her cold only to get sick again… "

Beth pointed out, "T.K. is in second grade, too…Yet he made the choice to come here of his own free will too."

"What's wrong, Tai?" Izzy inquired, there wasn't something Tai wasn't voicing out.

"It's nothing. It's just- She tends to keep quiet and endure things when she doesn't have to, you know?"

"Sounds like someone I know." Beth remarked nodding her head in Kylie's direction.

"You're worried, Tai…"

"Izzy, I've found something!" Tentomon informed them.

* * *

Later on Kabuterimon's head and with the guardians flying alongside, they saw a bridge within a large body of water surrounding a city but not just any city…

They all gasped in amazement.

"It's North America!" T.K. shouted. For the city greatly resembled New Work city complete with the twin towers and the Chrysler building, however there were other few little details.

There was St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. "But those buildings are from Italy." Izzy remarked. "Now it's the Arc de Triomphe! That's in France!"

"I see the kremlin and St. Basil's cathedral! Right by the Brandenburg Gate." Haruna pointed.

"That's Big Ben and Parliament hill!" Kylie cried.

"But… the whole place looks uninhabited. This feels weird." Sora observed.

"There's no Digimon either." Piyomon added.

Kari looked as though she was starting to run a fever.

"Hey! Can we find some place where to rest? This is an emergency!" snapped Tai.

Izzy agreed. "Yes, right away!"

They had reached the world of cities. This world was ruled by Machinedramon. All of the cities in the Digital World were lined up and divided into regions in systematic fashion. However, there was a great deal of inconsistencies in the mix of different landscapes. It was a clear display that, to Machinedramon who had the heart of a machine, a perfect blueprint of his cities did not include an artistic eye to judge whether or not it was also beautiful.  
Tankmon filed in patrol formations along the wide roads that formed the grid-lines of the cities. Their cannons were propped up, ready to fire at any intruder that showed up on their radar. The patrol took place in intervals of fifteen minutes, so he used that time to move ahead and hide on repeat.

Andromon, along with all of Factorial Town, had been pulled into the world of cities, and now he was leading his group of comrades in an underground resistance movement. To put it into more concrete terms, they were using the underground cables to infiltrate the network, manipulating them to secretly keep in contact with their comrades and hack into the enemy's secret information. In doing so, they had a general idea on the process that had led to this catastrophe. According to Andromon, "The program that Datamon made was the trigger for this catastrophe."  
When Datamon was worked like a slave under Etemon, Datamon received orders from the Dark Masters to develop a certain program. The program was built to divide all the information of the Digital World into the elements of city, forest, ocean, and darkness that would be reconstructed into separate areas that would each be ruled by the Dark Masters.

During all of this, the Dark Masters had left control of the Digital World to their siblings Myotismon, Etemon, and Devimon. When the sealing away of the four Holy Beasts was at last complete, they started up the program that would restructure the world.  
"I don't think that was all," Andromon said. "There may have been another reason for all of this. After Etemon was defeated, an abnormality in the net— Well, the venerable Gennai and Centaurmon are investigating that right now, so we should wait for their report."

"I wonder why Datamon gave that info to the Dark Masters," Sora said. "He knew that Etemon was created by Lady Despair, didn't he know, they were Despair's children too?"

"I think, at the time he was focused on getting revenge on Etemon," Beth said. "And thought once he had your clone and crest, he would be able to handle them too, since he gave them the data, he knew how to disrupt it too."

"Fat good it did him," Sora said with a crossing of her arms.

The heroic group took refuge in a stately French château however the interior decoration looked as though it was done in the 80's or 90's. Inside, they scoured the building for medicine. Agumon found a box of cold medicine but it was empty.

Kari was already in a bed with Gatomon by her side, Sora watching and Sara G moistening a washcloth to keep Kari cool. Behind her, Dana was heating up water in a kettle and holding some chamomile tea.

"We'll go out to look for medicine. How is Kari doing?"

"She just fell asleep. She started sweating a lot, hopefully that will help to lower her fever…"

"She needs more fluids, preferably soup. We can do that right here with all the right herbs, she isn't allergic to any certain foods is she?" Haruna said as she dabbled with a mortar and pestle.

"None." Tai shook his head.

Haruna nods once, "Then I'll make her some broth."

"Yeah. Well, you girls take good care of her for me?"

Of course!

"Sure. Be careful, Tai."

We're going with him. Beth affirmed with Kylie nodding.

"Tai, I'll go with you to look for her cold medicine." T.K. offered his help.

Tai declined. "No, I want you to stay with them, T.K. We don't know when the Dark Masters will attack us next."

"Okay then. I'll make sure to protect everyone!"

"Leave it to us!" Patamon chimed in.

"Same here!" Dana agreed.

Now the two boys with their digimon and the elder Pantheon sisters raced through the British part of the city.

"There it is!" Izzy pointed to a telephone booth. "We'll only be wasting time if we search in the fog without any leads." He pulled out a cord connecting to his laptop and plugged the other end of the cord into the phone. "All right! I've got a map of the city!"

Alright then so where do we search? Kylie asked.

"The closest hospitals and drug stores around here are…" Izzy was typing away.

The map then flashed yellowish lights indicating the places containing the medicine.

"Here they are!"

"All right!" pointed to an area just left of them. "Let's go to this one!" He quickly ran out.

"Tai! P-Please wait for me!" Izzy cried as Beth, Kylie and the digimon ran after them.

None of them knew of the grievous error they'd done.

* * *

"She's sick, we need to figure out what to do," Zaira exclaimed. "But wha...oh! The mirror!"

Zaira referred to a small hand mirror the Dark Spectre Queen gave them to allow for communication, since she still couldn't enter the digital world. Unfair as that was since Lady Despair was now there, and able to use her magic, as long as she stayed on Spiral Mountain or near one of her Dark Masters.

Zaira pulled out the mirror, which flashed brightly, before the face of the Ruler of the Eastern Seas, Most Merciful and Stern appeared.

"Zaira, what's the matter? I sensed the death of a Dark Master," Vanessa said. "So, two down, two to go."

"It's Kari." Sora walked over to the mirror, looking worried. "She's ill."

"Ill?" Vanessa exclaimed. "That can't be, I ensured none of you kids could get sick with an enchantment before you left..."

"You did?" Sara G exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, I wanted to ensure you wouldn't have anything to hold you back," Vanessa explained. "Let me see her."

Zaira brought the mirror over to Kari and Vanessa stared at the child, and gasped.

"Oh, oh dear. This isn't an illness, it's worse..." Vanessa gasped.

"Worse?" Haruna gasped as she had Kari's head resting in her lap. "What do you mean?!"

"She's not sick, she's become...possessed. Someone, or something...THING, is trying to use her as a living cell phone. Like my mirror I gave you, but a human body isn't equipped to handle that much energy, or power."

"Is there nothing that you can do?" Sara G asked the Dark Spectre Queen through the mirror.

"As long as you are in the digital world," Vanessa frowns sadly. "All I can do is pray, and tell you to do your best to keep her comfortable, her tag and crest might take the strain off her."

"Then we better tell Tai and Izzy!" Piyomon suggested.

"Too late, Beth and Kylie went with them to get the medicine for Kari!" Zaira exclaimed worriedly.

They couldn't do much else but care for Kari and wait for them to return.

* * *

The information that Izzy received had also been tapped on the screen of the headquarters of the third Dark Master that ruled the region: Machinedramon. The Digimon that served under the mechanized beast were gear-shaped creatures with two smaller gears to their sides and red eyes. These were Hagurumon observing the locations that Izzy had searched.

"The line has disconnected, Lord Machinedramon! They were looking up information on hospitals and drug stores."

"Hospitals. Drug stores. Display their locations."

"Yes, sir. There are twelve located within the vicinity."

"All of them will be our targets. Metal Empire Army! Move out!"

"Metal Empire Army! Move out!" The two Hagurumon repeated.

Throughout the city, building walls and city streets were opening up to reveal Machinedramon's forces. These included Mechanorimon and Tankmon. In St. Peter's Square, a hangar opened to unleash two large Digimon to the skies. The first one was is a brown dragon with purple hair and yellow eyes. It has tattered purple wings and two arms, and wears a black helmet and black gauntlets on its arms called a Megadramon. The other was similar except the skin color was purple and its wings that were robotic this one was Gigadramon.

Because Machinedramon was a machine, he felt neither the ruthless joy of hunting prey like MetalSeadramon nor innocent malice like Puppetmon. He moved quickly, without waste, into carrying out his plan to eliminate both the Chosen Children and the scattered guardians.

In other words, his plan involved using his Mugen Cannon to desecrate his own cities and subordinates, if it all meant killing them.  
The truth about the world of cities was that the machines on its surface were only a cover; the power generated underground was what were more important. Machinedramon implemented his plan immediately. Quickly, without waste.

* * *

The group arrived to the nearest hospital in hopes of finding the cold medicine. Tai and Agumon were the first ones there, as the little orange dinosaur glanced around, never having seen a hospital before. However for Tai… it was as though he was taken back to the past.

* * *

_Back on that dreadful autumn afternoon in the Tokyo Saiseikai Central Hospital located in the Higashiazabu District, Minato Ward. _

_He was nine years old again in the waiting area of the ER, waiting anxiously for news of his little sister._

_"Tai!" His mother arrived looking greatly out of breath. "Where is your sister?!"_

* * *

In the present day, Beth noticed Tai gripping his fists tightly.

Tai…Tai! Beth got his attention. You alright?

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah…"

"I've found it! It's in the place I told you about!" Izzy and Kylie waved them over.

They walked into the hospital pharmacy searching for the medicine but none of the formulas there made any sense to them unless they're in the medical field.

"If only Joe was here. His father is a doctor." Izzy remarked.

"Man, he's never around when you really need him!" Tai complained.

"No kidding." Beth huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Couldn't we look through the archives? Surely there's bound to be records of the pharmacy contents." Kylie wondered.

"Wait! I have an idea." Izzy pulled out his laptop, unplugged the telephone and plugged his laptop in.

With this method he was able to able to hack the hospital's archive files to locate the medication they needed. Finally Tai held up a plastic bottle that read ZE-22 Y-ZE.

"Is it this one?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it!" responded Izzy.

"Good, then let's just hurry-"

At that moment, a faint explosion made the shelves rattle and the lights flicker before going out.

What's happening? Agumon yelped.

It came from outside! Kylie said in alarm.

As they neared the front doors, Beth stopped them then took a compact mirror tied it to a selfie stick then held it out to see. Her blue eyes widened with shock. We got company! We better go out the back!

They rushed away, knowing that the army waiting outside would either give chase or start demolishing the building. The former being exactly what they did.

"How did they know we were in here?!" Tentomon asked.

"They must've spotted us when we walked in." Izzy guessed.

"Twinkle Beam!" "Hyper Cannon!" The Tankmon and the Mechanorimon launched their attacks.

Tai shoved open a door for the group to run into before jumping out the window and ducking low to the ground. And not a moment too soon, for the mixed attacks engulfed the entire room in flames!

Fortunately they found themselves up on a building a few floors up watching the patrolling Tankmon.

"How many of them are out there?" Tai mumbled.

"All right, I'll go and fight them!" Agumon volunteered.

"Yeah, we can take them!" Beth suggested.

"Please wait!" Izzy interrupted. "We don't have an accurate idea of their fighting strength. It's too dangerous!"

"Then what are we going to do, Izzy?!" Tai demanded.

"I'm investigating where the enemy is positioned, so that I can map a safe route for us to travel. Our top priority is to make sure we get that medicine to Kari."

"Y-Yeah… You're right." Tai acknowledged softly.

"All right! I've pinpointed their locations!"

* * *

"Lord Machinedramon! An access point has been spotted in Sector B-12!"

"Change the location of our target. Sector B-12!"

* * *

Suddenly Izzy gasped, his face had drained of color.

"What's wrong, Izzy?" Kylie questioned, before walking over to see. When she did, she let out yelp of fright.

Izzy croaked out. "The enemy is concentrating on surrounding this building…"

"What! How?!"

Beth and Kylie's unnerved gaze fell on the laptop cord both teenage girls coming to the same conclusion: The enemy must've been using Izzy's computer access to track them down!

Kylie lunged and pulled the plug. "I got it!"

"Too late!" Agumon yelled.

Beth turned to the window before hollering, "Heads up!"

One of the Megadramon flew right through the window causing the group to leap out of the way.

"Agumon, digivolve to… GREYMON! Mega Flame!"

Fortunately the Megadramon got stuck in the window pane but didn't make it any less dangerous. So the group was forced to escape.

* * *

On Spiral mountain, Piedmon was in the observatory, watching Machinedramon's forces hunt down the group.

"This is wearisome to watch. He never lets down his guard nor shows signs of weakness. Truly, he is a Digimon who exists only to destroy. That is Machinedramon. I suppose it is he who will bring the Chosen Children or the Heir to their doom. It's a shame I won't have the chance to play with you or the red-locked amazon." He lifted his glass of alcohol with a dark smirk.

* * *

However, the group was quickly able to give their pursuers the slip by taking refuge in a replica of Notre Dame.

"I'm sorry, it was an oversight on my part." Izzy apologized. " The enemy located us by using the signal from my computer connection."

"Your oversight almost got us killed!" Tai yelled in Izzy's face. "While we're stuck in here, Kari's state is growing worse!"

Beth, Kylie and the digimon try to separate the two boys. Tai, that's enough!

"Tai, what's wrong with you?" Agumon asked. "This isn't like you!" His words were enough to get Tai to calm down.

"I-I'm sorry." Tai apologized before turning around and falling to his knees.

"Did something happen, Tai?" Izzy questioned. "You've been on edge of late."

"There was a time when… Kari… She almost died once because of me."

The others gasped, stunned.

"This happened when I was in second grade and Kari in preschool, it happened one day in the Fall…." Tai began to tell his story.

Kari didn't attend because she'd caught a cold. But when I came home, Tai found her sitting on the couch watch T.V. Impulsively, he thought she was feeling better, so her took her to the park to play soccer with him. At one point, he kicked the ball to her and she weakly kicked it back. Tai at first rebuked her, for it only to see that she fallen over on the very spot. Fortunately someone called an ambulance taking him and Kari to the hospital, where Kari immediately admitted into the E.R. There in the waiting room, Tai tensely waited until his parents arrived. When they found out what happened his mother actually slapped him because of his carelessness. "I told you she was sick!" She'd screamed at him.

Kari remained between alive and dead for three whole days. When she was finally brought back from the hospital, the first thing she said to Tai was…

_"Onii-chan… I'm sorry I couldn't kick the ball very well…"  
_  
"She's always thinking about other people before herself, and she'll never tell anyone that she's in pain or having a hard time, even if it kills her! That's the kind of girl she is!" Tai was in tears. "The thing is, she might not have even wanted to come to this stupid world at all… But when people tell her that the fate of the world is in her hands or something, she could never refuse! That's what Kari is like." He miserably punched a pew in front of him, "That's why… That's why I'm supposed to look after her and protect her… B-But I…"

"Tai, I understand." Izzy said soberly.

Beth suddenly sputtered out: "You're wrong! She WANTED to come!" She wiped her eyes. "But the fact is you keep blaming yourself for that so much, you've blinded yourself into making assumptions and making the decisions without even bothering to actually _talk _to Kari to see what she truly thinks!"

"Wh–What are you talking about…" Tai was at a loss for words.

He hadn't gotten timid because Kari was with them. But it was true that he had gotten more careful so that no one got hurt or pushed themselves. That was a problem that Tai needed to agonize over and conquer from here on. He just needed some more time on it.

"You were just a small child, Tai." Kylie said. "Your mother should've not hit you. She was hysterical, but you couldn't have known better." The blonde teenager kneels down to hug him close. "You have been the best brother ever, but you must not get lost in protecting her, or do it because you believe it's the only way you can make up for it."

"You're her older brother and it's not wrong to want to protect her, I'd do the same for Dana and Kylie… but you've got to take the time to listen and Kari let her make her choices too. Take care of her, but don't let her forget that she still her voice to speak out."

Tai looked at his feet. It was true, he was so just so worried about keeping his sister safe that he forgot to actually listen top Kari and have a heart to heart about her opinions too.

"I swear to you, we are going to get that medicine back to Kari." Izzy promised and he came up with a plan. "Since it's impossible to break through them head on, it's best to use the enemy's own strategy to our advantage!"

"What do you mean, Izzy?" inquired Tentomon.

"This software program will prevent them from finding out where I'm accessing." "That way we'll easily deceive our enemy!"

* * *

"We've caught their access point!" One of the Hagurumon grinned.

Only for multiple yellow points to flash on the screen. It turned to its master.

"What should we do now, Lord Machinedramon?"

Machinedramon said nothing, only a low rumble. Finally he came to a decision. "Initiate Plan Z as of this moment!"

"B-But that plan is…!" A Hagurumon protested.

"Defeating the Chosen Children is our utmost priority. Prepare the execution at once!"

"Y-Yes, sir!" The two Hagurumon complied. "Prepare to execute Plan Z!"

"Plan Z… Execute!" Machinedramon ordered.

* * *

Back at the château, T.K. looked out the window and saw the flying dragons headed for their location. He, Patamon and Dana exchanged nervous looks. Then Dana whispered, "I think it's time we pull another El-ahrairah…"

* * *

The group left Notre Dame after seeing how at first Machinedramon's forces weren't moving an inch. Only to see two of the flying dragons fly overhead and begin to level the city.

"What are they doing?" Tai asked.

"They're shooting all over the place." Tentomon said.

But they don't know where we are. Do they? Kylie questioned nervously.

"I-It can't be…" Izzy stuttered and he slumped over. "The enemy grew weary of searching. But now, they're destroying the city with us in it!"

Tai and the two teen girls were shocked. Their only chance now was to run but then Tentomon noticed something.

"He's heading towards where the others are!" Tentomon shouted.

"Damn it…!" Tai growled. "Kari!"

They hurried back to the back to the château where it was still standing.

"Good, they're still safe!" Izzy observed.

"Kari!" Tai ran towards the building… only for the château to be hit by a missile!

The explosion blew them all back and the sight chilled them to the bone. Beth and Kylie gasped, their skin blanched from horror.

"Impossible…" Izzy stammered.

"No… KARI!" Tai screamed.

Another missile headed towards them only to be blown away by a gold burst of light. Surprised, they turned to see Angemon and Dana in her Digix form flying right behind them.

Then from the hedge, T.K.'s head popped out. "Tai, Izzy, Kylie, Beth, are you okay?" He asked.

Haruna, Zaira, Sara G, Piyomon, Gatomon, and Sora hopped out of the bushes, with was hanging on to Sora's back.

"Kari!" Tai cried out with relief.

"You're all safe!" Izzy said.

"Oh thank goodness! " Kylie gasped.

"We took cover when they started bombing the city." Sora explained.

"T.K. thought it up." Haruna said, patting the little boy's head.

"I was able to protect everyone!" T.K. beamed proudly.

"Great job, T.K.!" Tai praised.

But their little reunion was interrupted when a bright light tore out from nearby and they turned to see horrifically familiar face three feet away from them!

"Machinedramon!" Izzy screamed.

The group ran into the neatest building in an attempt to escape.

"Now you are all finished. Mugen Cannon!"

The deadly canons threw the entire building its foundations and the floor beneath them crumbled, sending the them all falling.

"Onii-chan!" Kari screamed.

"Kari!" Tai called back.

The heroic group fell downwards into the dark abyss due to Machinedramon's surprise attack they headed to the bottom of the darkness that invaded the Digiworld.

**_To be continued…_**


	36. Three down, one to go

Even in sleep Kari could hear a large fan turning and water dripping – the sound echoing.

~**Kari...Kari...wake up...**~

Kari shivered as the voice of Sirene called out to her.

~**I know you are tired after your sickness, but you must awake.**~

What felt like a hand caressed Kari's cheek, and a white light engulfed her body. Sitting nearby was Haruna who was startled with T.K. and Gatomon as they see the little girl's body glow, and Kari stirred. The white glow dissipating as she opened her eyes.

Kari saw that they were in some underground sewers or an abandoned subway. T.K.'s bag had been lent as a makeshift pillow and found that she was lying in dry moss as a bed. "Where am I?"

"You're awake!" T.K. exclaimed.

"Kari!" Gatomon smiled.

"Oh thank goodness!" Haruna said in relief.

"T.K.… Gatomon…Haruna… I…what happened to me?"

"How do you feel?" Gatomon asked.

Kari touched her own forehead with her right hand. It wasn't hot anymore, the fever had broken while she slept. "My fever is gone. I feel a lot better, too."

"You've been sleeping for a very long time. That must've helped your recovery." Gatomon speculated.

Haruna felt Kari's forehead and her own to be certain. "Yes, your body temperature feels fine."

"How long was I asleep?"

"All through the night, we took turns keeping watch over you."

Kari then looked around. "Where are the others?"

The faces of the three fells momentarily. Then there was the sound of wings flapping.

"They're back!" T.K. exclaimed, recognizing that sound belonging to Patamon's wings.

"Maybe they found someone!" Gatomon hoped.

Kylie had returned with Sora, Piyomon, Beth, Dana and Patamon however they'd found no sign of Tai nor the others.

"Oh, that's right!" Sora held up the pill bottle that read ZE-22 Y-ZE. "Look, Piyomon found this. It must be the medicine that Tai and the rest went to find for you, Kari."

"He was terribly worried about you and feared it'd have been better for you to remain on Earth." Kylie explained. "But we reminded him that it was you choice on whether you wanted to come to the Digiworld or not."

Kari nodded. "And I wanted to see your home. I mean, it's where you were born, and Gatomon, she's your sister. So, it's all of your home."

"This place winds around itself like a maze." Piyomon explained. "But if we all search together now, I'm sure we'll meet the others again in no time. Cheer up!"

"I'll do my best to look for them, too." Kari said with a warm smile. "After all, I am Tai's sister."

* * *

They began walking through the tunnels when Sora told them to stop and listen.

"What's wrong?"

"Quiet. Do you hear something?" Now that it was somewhat silent, they could hear something like gears turning. "Listen. What is that?"

"It's coming from over there."

"Let's take a look." They followed Sora to where the sounds where coming from.

"Work!" Someone shouted followed the sound of a whip.

"Work!" Another crack.

"Work, all of you! You Numemon may be weak against the sunlight, but you act as the power source that fuels the urban areas of Spiral Mountain that Lord Machinedramon controls! Work!"

The group arrived to a catwalk above a large chamber with a lot of machinery. The speaker was a large black and creamy teddy bear, that looked like the polar opposite of Monzaemon. He had a little piece of leather stitched to his left arm that read Waru in kanji, which meant evil.

"Isn't that… Monzaemon?" T.K. questioned.

"No, he's WaruMonzaemon!" Patamon clarified.

"So he's become a minion of Machinedramon now…" observed Piyomon.

"It fits, seeing as he's way different than the Monzaemon we met." Beth remarked.

"He must be a part of the Metal Empire Army." Sora assumed.

Kari didn't say a word, her tearful eyes were focused on the Numemon that are being worked to the figurative bone, suffering under the cruelty of WarMuzemon.

"What's the matter? Don't slack off!" WaruMonzaemon continued whipping them.

"The Numemon… how sad…" Kari wasn't looking the way she usually did. Something had taken possession of her. Her small body glowed with a divine white light.

At the same time, the Heart of Etherea began it shine a hot pink from within Beth.

"Kari!" The leader of the guardians gasped, clutching the rapidly glowing heart.

"What is it?" Sora asked in concern.

"I think Sirene is possessing Kari again!" Beth exclaimed.

Gatomon turned in alarm, and some joy over the presence of her 'mother' but was startled by the tears.

"It's all...so cruel...it's all...**My fault...**" The voice of Sirene now wept out.

"Sirene?" Beth asked cautiously.

"**If only I hadn't died...**" The voice of Sirene sobbed out. "**If I was alive...none of this suffering would've happened...to this wondrous world, my daughters, my beloved digimon...**"

Suddenly, a bright light broke out in the room, and the Numemon all stopped working. WaruMonzaemon tried to whip them, but the whip melted in his paw, and he cowered in fear of the holy, ethereal light casting off of Kari.

"Wh-wh-what the!?" WaruMonzaemon gasped n shock and horror.

"Kari, I mean 'Sirene', Mrs. Mom!?" Beth cried out in alarm when Kari floated up into the air.

"Mother?" Both Kylie and Gatomon whispered.

"**You cause pain and suffering,**" Sirene 'spoke'. "**Body born without compassion or mercy. You have stolen the freedom and happiness of these little beings.**"

WaruMonzaemon looked up, and was unable to turn away, staring at the sun-like majesty of Sirene, who's mirage like image appeared over Kari's body.

"**I sentence you to data, and to be reborn in the Village of Beginnings to redeem yourself in the next life!**"

WaruMonzaemon cried in dismay, and maybe regret, as the light engulfed his form, and he shattered into data. The others were gasping in shock, especially Beth. A high level being, channeling it's power through Kari, crest or not was bound to cause problems.

"It's got to be..." Beth exclaims.

"What?" Sora turned to look at Beth.

"Kari's fever, it must've been a result of Sirene trying to focus her will through her to help us," Beth explained.

"So, it's Mother's fault?" Gatomon asked sadly.

"Oh, I doubt she's doing it on purpose," Beth said. "But it isn't healthy for a No-Maj like Kari, to wield potent magic like this, so suddenly. We mage types grow up with it, and assimilate it during puberty."

Beth's words caused them to look at Kari in alarm, as the light shining from her dissolved the chains on the Numemon, who all looked at her with love and awe.

"Great Mother Sirene! Princess Kari," They began to chant. "Great Mother Sirene! Princess Kari!"

'Sirene' smiled as Kari floated down to the floor, the others rushing to join as Kari kneels to pet and kiss the Numemon on their slimy heads.

"**Go, my digimon children. You who call this world your home, you are free now.**" Sirene declared, and turned as the light faded. Sirene's transparent image disappeared with the light, Kari stumbled over, but was caught by Kylie who held her upright.

"Kari!?" Kylie asked in alarm.

"I am alright..." Kari sighed.

A beam of light was shining from her, and seemed to be acting like a lighthouse. "We follow this..." Kari said. "A gift...from Sirene to help us out."

Kylie covered her eyes, the blinding light from Vanessa's magic mirror stabbing into her brain. But in truth, it was telling her, speaking to her, she wanted to know. She needed to know.

~_You wish to see your brothers?~_

_~Then I shall show you, it begins, and ends with your mother~_

_~But they live on, and as long as they live, she lives~_

_~Harmony lives, Sirene lives~_

* * *

_Lady Despair smiled, surrounded by her children, the Dark Masters._

_~Go, and take out these whelps, My son's.~_

_Lady Despair points a silver talon covered finger imperiously down to the kids._

_~And this world, it shall be mine~_

_Maki shook Daigo, frantic with fear and despair, but the waves of misery wafting over her disappeared. For a rainbow of light shimmered, and a tall, beautiful woman, with hair like golden light, and glowing turquoise lacking pupils, appeared before the children and fallen digimon._

_The two children looked up in shock, and Piedmon, who was floating down towards the children stopped in surprise._

_Lady Despair looked down at the Nymph, and grit her teeth in shock and hate._

_~You...~_

_The lovely lady of light, smiled softly at the children and digimon._

_~My beloved ones, children of this world, and others~_

_She clasps her hands together._

_~I am Sirene, A Nymph of the worlds of magic. And I am here, I will protect, and guide you in this hour of hopelessness~_

_Sirene turns to frown at Lady Despair and the Dark Masters._

_~For it's a mother's duty to protect the children, who are bullied and lost~_

_Sirene raises her hands upward. __~You dare to come here, Sierra. To my world, my new home and let your children run amok~ __The nymph's beautiful face deepened into an angry glare. __~I will not permit this, for these children are the remaining hope for the future of Earth and this world~_

_~Let my love guide you, let it fill you to rebirth~_

_Lady Despair and the Dark Masters watched in alarm, as Sirene performed a ritual._

_**Light is born of Darkness, Darkness sails north to become water...light sails south to give birth to fire...wind flows in between light and darkness...Light sinks into Darkness and returns to Earth.**_

_Sirene's whole body always glowed, like a angel, she walked with a radiance that light up the dark night, and during the day one shielded their eyes._

_But now she covered her mouth with both hands, and turned to blow a kiss at the fallen digimon, and her glow increased into a dazzling nova of light._

_**I give you my love, I give you my light. I give birth to you, My Harmonious Ones. Reveal your true forms, and be born to me**_

_And the light, the life force of Sirene poured into the digimon, engulfing them in spheres of light._

_Orochimon, Hippogriffmon, Triceramon, LoaderLiomon, all four were engulfed, and opened their eyes. And saw the one who loved them, the one who loved them above all else, for the Digital world was Sirene's all. And all in it here were receivers of Sirene's love.  
_

_NO! I WILL NOT BE STOPPED!~_

_The voice of Despair screamed, and she gestured to her sons, Machinedramon and MetalSeadramon._

_~OBLITERATE THAT NYMPH, AND THOSE WRETCHED CHILDREN!~_

_The blasts were blocked but it was by megadramon, who fell over in a heap._

_Daigo cried out, as Sirene lifted her arms, and encased the digi-destined who scattered, Daigo included into the same spheres._

_They gathered around Megadramon, who Maki watches as he's lifted up in a light bubble too._

_~Do not let them succeed, attack my darling ones!~ Lady Despair cried out._

_But it was too late, as the digimon were changed, completely transformed, 12 glowing orbs circling around them, as they floated into the air, with the sphere's crumbling to glittering dust as Sirene's glowing body became weaker._

_~To you I give a part of myself, as a mother does on Birth, and entrust you to the Harmony of this world. My Harmonious Ones~ Sirene said softly, and looked sadly at Megadramon._

_~I beg your forgiveness, and wish you had not made this choice~ Megadramon looked up at her, eyes opened weakly, but it smiled at the Nymph, content with what he chose to do._

_The four god like Digimon turned to Megadramon, who spreads out his wings and arm canons as he was hit with powerful energy blasts from the digimon, which engulf him in their energy._

_Lady Despair held out her scepter, and a black, skull like butterfly appeared over the skulls face, before it fired a massively powerful beam of magic. But the beam was counteracted, as Megadramon became a whirling ball of energy that shot through the beam. Lady Despair screamed, flinching back in terror, as the Dark Masters quickly piled over her to shield their witch mother from the blast. ~NO! THIS CANNOT BE!~_

_Too late, the blast hits them straight on, but instead of death, they were banished away. Maki watched in horror, for the other Harmonious Ones fell to the ground, and pillars of light shot forth from them, as well as two energy beams burst from Sirene's eyes._

_They strike where Despair and the Dark Masters once were, and hit the inky black sky, causing a portal to open, sucking away the dark magic clouds, and soon everything was all bright and clear once more._

_Maki looked up at the falling glitter that was once Megadramon and she clenched her digivice in grief and anger._

_~Why...~_

_Maki turned to stare at Sirene, who looked hurt at the grief-torn expression on the young girl's face. ~Why did you only pick four?~_

* * *

Back in the present day, Kylie found herself and Kari being worshipped – they've only just recognized Kylie as Sirene's biological child. Gatomon just didn't know what to make of all this.

The underground was tightly packed with pipes and cables, so in order to move further into it or deeper underground, they had to cut through pipes and cables that blocked their path. It felt like parting through a sea filled with algae. But once they made it through, they reached a wide cavity underground. It didn't change that it was still a difficult place for Machinedramon to fight in.  
He couldn't use his Mugen Cannon. Although cramped, the source of the city's power was underground. If he used his cannons carelessly, there was the apprehension that the world of cities itself would be destroyed.  
But not even that was a major problem — That was what Machinedramon's mechanical brain cells calculated. Even in hand-to-hand combat, his power had the precondition of eclipsing the powers of all the Chosen Children's Digimon partners.

* * *

After Machinedramon blasted them to this underground city, Tai, Izzy, Zaira and Sara G were quick to regroup with each other but found no sign of the others. Tai was beyond himself with worry to the point where he's nearly lashing out. So it came as a surprise when he suddenly pulled them close and lowered his voice. "Someone's trailing us."

"What?"

"Listen."

They strained to listen and heard feet marching down the corridors. Agumon and Tentomon were unable to digivolve, the girls could still transform but even their wings limped with fatigue.

However before they could get the drop on a possible attacker, they stopped for Tai, Izzy and Zaira recognized the figure. "Andromon!"

"Chosen Children, Guardian Zaira… It's been some time." He said. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"That's what we should be saying!" exclaimed Tai.

"Friend of yours?" Sara G questioned.

"Remember the Android digimon in that weird factory we told you about? This is him!" Zaira quickly explained.

"Yes. What are you doing here, Andromon?" Izzy asked him.

"Ever since I came underground, I have been acting as a lone soldier in a resistance movement, aiming to free these cities from Machinedramon's control." He explained. "However, I was unaware that you were in this area, so that is why I had thought you were Machinedramon's subordinates."

"No way!" "Don't insult us." The digimon protested.

"My apologies."

"Listen, we're looking for a girl named Kari." Tai quickly told Andromon.

"We think our friends Sora, T.K. and the other guardians are with her, too." Added Izzy.

Zaira nods, "One of them is Kylie, Sirene's heir."

"I understand. Please wait one moment." Andromon lifted his arms to the ceiling causing cords to come out and connect.

"We're counting on you. Kari is Tai's little sister."

"Here it comes." Andromon said.

"You mean Kari?"

"She's coming this way?"

However, what burst out of the wall teen feet away was not who they were hoping to see. "Here you are."

"Machinedramon!" The group exclaimed in shock.

"Andromon is with you, eh? Even better, I get to kill all of you at once." The robotic beast raised his head towards the ceiling and charged them.

"Find some place to hide!" Andromon walked forward.

"Andromon!"

The brave android digimon placed himself against one of Machinedramon's legs and began pushing.

"Come on, we've got to help!" Sara G cried.

* * *

In the meantime, the other had following Kari then as she stopped to tie her shoes she'd paused. "They're close."

"You mean Tai and the others?" T.K. inquired.

"Here it comes!"

However out from the wall came one of the very last things they'd wanted to see…

"Machinedramon!"

At that moment, the entire floor suddenly collapsed from under their feet, fortunately the digimon caught them as they descended.

The shots that Machinedramon had fired to the surface opened up the light and let it flow into the tunnels. Then they spotted those they'd briefly separated from, Kari ran to her brother at once.

Nevertheless, Machinedramon remained a threat. Quickly the other guardians transformed to fight.

"Meteor Wing!"

"Holy Arrow!"

"Heaven's Knuckle!"

"Spiral Sword!"

"Empyrean rage!"

"Springtime gust!"

"Northern Tempest!"

"Naiad's attack"

"Electro-beam!"

"Seven crowns!"

The attacks engulfed Machinedramon but he emerged from them unscathed.

"Machinedramon is a Mega-Level, remember?" Izzy reminded them.

The metallic monster launched his Mugen Cannons at his opponents send them backwards. "I didn't even feel that," Machinedramon laughed. "You all are next, as just punishment for the heinous crime of making My Mother weep tears of sorrow and rage, as well as for the death of my siblings."

Everyone was frightened beyond belief, when a soft voice began to sing, and Kari walked towards Machinedramon.

~**_Ah-ah-ah-ohh_**~

"Kari!" Tai cried out in shock.

"Kari!" The others called out.

Then out of the caverns, the Numemon showed up and began to cover the Dark Master. The singing began to pick up.

~**_Ahh-ahhh-oh-oh-oh_**~

And the white light began to shine, and they realized it was coming from Kari: both the light and the singing.

~**_Oh-Ahhh-Ahh-oh!_**~

And the transparent figure of Sirene appeared, walking alongside, over Kari. The late nymph's form seemed to become more corporeal, with Kari vanishing from sight as the Nymph began to appear more fully.

"Mother!" Kylie gasped in alarm. "What..."

"She's begun to manifest herself through Kari," Beth answered. "We think that's why Kari was falling ill."

"It's too much for her to channel Sirene's magic." Sora said in alarm.

"YOU..." The voice of Machinedramon turned hateful, and yet at the same time. It was filled with utter dread. "It can't be...it can't be! Mother said...Mother said Piedmon killed you!"

Suddenly, all of the Numemon crawled out of the cracks, crawling up the body of Machinedramon, trying to hold him in place.  
Each of the Numemon were powerless on their own, but in these numbers, even they were a menace to Machinedramon.  
But although the iron beast was buried beneath the mountain of Numemon, he wasn't getting his butt kicked.

"Why…? They know they can't win… They know they'll die, so why?!" Sora whispered, aghast. Next to her, Kari heard the Numemon's voices from their hearts.

_Like Sirene's heir,_ _the Chosen Children and the Guardians are our hope! We can't let them die! _

Before coming to the Digital World, Kari had seen the Numemon in the human world and had honestly thought them to be disgusting. But not now. Right now, they were magnificent warriors who did not fear death.

"Get off me, you insufferable insects!" Machinedramon raised his arm to strike.

_We're counting on you, children… _

Kari's body suddenly glowed.

~**_Sunlight shine, and pierce the darkness_**

The voice of Sirene spoke, causing the machine digimon to freeze, quivering in pain.

~**_Oh life giving light, descend from the Heavens_**

Sirene rose a hand and all the Numemon flew off the Dark Master, encased in spheres of light for their safety, as Sirene's turquoise eyes were fixated on the child of her enemy.

~**_Blazing with Holy Radiance, I beseech you!_**~

"NO! NO!" Machinedramon cried out as shafts of light shot down, spearing through his body like lances. "MOTHER, PROTECT ME!"

But it was to no avail.

~**_VANQUISH THIS EVIL!_**~ Sirene held her hands together, forming a circle, and a spiral wave of white and blue energy shot forth, and struck Machinedramon.

"AAAAAHHH!" Machinedramon cried out.

His body exploded into data, and the vial of black blood, that which fueled his existence, was also engulfed in the bright light. And was vaporized with a loud shattering sound.

* * *

Up on Spiral Mountain, Lady Despair cried out as she grabbed her heart, Piedmon rushing to grab her and hold her up.

"AAAUUGH! MY SON!" Lady Despair screamed.

* * *

But back in the urban sector, Sirene lowered her hands, and the light faded, the Numemon were released, and mobbed around Sirene, but parted as she strolled through them towards Andromon.

"My loyal friend, you never gave up hope, you protect the Chosen ones, and you also protect my beloved children from his cold, hatred." Sirene spoke gently, touching him as she crouched down, Andromon was covered in a white light.

"Ah..." Andromon's eyes snapped open. "I feel...power coursing through me..."

"You have earned my gratitude, arise and continue on the path you've paved for yourself." Sirene spoke.

"My Lady…" Andromon bowed his head in respect.

"Mother!" Kylie runs up to Sirene, who turns her glowing turquoise eyes toward her daughter, she smiles happily.

"Please, Mother. You have to stop," Kylie said in upset tone. "You're hurting Kari!"

Sirene frowns, and looks down at her hands, and the form of Kari, who was within her own form.

"It's too much for her to hold your magic," Kylie said. "I want you to stay more than anything, but...but you died..." The pale girl had little tears in her eyes. "And Kari is still alive, and so is her brother, her parents. All the people who love her, even me and Gatomon."

Sirene smiles sadly, nodding in acceptance, and reaches out to cup Kylie's face in her hands. Kylie shut her eyes, the tears pouring down her cheeks, as she's is touched, and caressed lovingly by her mother for the first time.

"I just...wanted to see you, to hold you...just once more, My Darling Daughter." Sirene said in her soft, sad voice. "If only...if only I had lived...if only...your father knew you were still alive, he'd come and find you...the little girl he never got to watch grow up, who never got to love you and see your first steps or first words."

Kylie's eyes snapped open in shock. "My Father...my father, he's alive!?"

Beth and the others all gasped in amazement.

"He is?!"

"Where?"

"He is lost, my beloved child. He wanders out of grief, believing you had perished alongside with me. But one day, his wanderings will put him on the path...to reunite you two, together again."

Kylie leaned forward, as Sirene pressed a warm kiss to Kylie's cheek.

"Farewell, My beautiful Angel." Sirene whispered, and her form disappeared. "You will always be loved..."

Kylie wept, but quickly caught Kari, as she passed out into Kylie's arms.

"Kari!" Gatomon and Tai shouted, rushing over to her side as Kylie cradles Kari close, and pressed a soft kiss to Kari's forehead.

"I love you too, Mama..." Kylie sniffled.

The whole place began to crumble slowly just as it had when the previous two Dark Masters were destroyed

"Now that the ruler of the cities, Machinedramon, has been defeated… this area will now commence to deconstruct." Andromon informed them.

"And that's our cue to leave." Zaira remarks.

"Don't worry." Sora reassured T.K. "We're all together."

"Okay."

"It will soon be too dangerous for us to be here. We should escape as quickly as we can." said Izzy.

"Okay, let's do that!" agreed Tai.

From within Angemon's arms, T.K. said, "We did it. "

"Albeit this time with a little help. " Sara G remarked.

Tai, who was being held in one of Angewomon's arms as she held Kari in the other, stared down at the world of cities as it scattered into data dust.

"Now that the cities have disappeared… My fight is over." Andromon said stoically.

"Onii-chan. When we get down, can I make a grave marker for Sirene?" Kari asked Tai.

"Yeah." Tai nodded.

"We'll all help." Sora offered.

Then Andromon spoke up. "Look there. "

The children saw that the scraps of Machinedramon's black data dust were sinking lower and lower to the bottom.

"Does it mean that the data of a Mega level has more mass? " Izzy asked Andromon. "Or did he get absorbed by that thing Zaira saw in her premonition…?"

Not even Andromon knew.

"You're next, Piedmon." Tai said grimly looked up to the peak of the mountain.

In any case — Sora thought — Compared to the Numemon, who had banded together for a common cause, what were they doing? They were scattered. Had Matt figured himself out by now? Were Joe, Theo and Yui still working on persuading Mimi?

Their only enemy left was Piedmon... Sirene's murderer and the final Dark Master.

**_To be continued…_**


	37. A battle of women

Though Ogremon kept telling them Primary Village was essentially dead, Mimi insisted on seeing for herself. In between leaving the world of forests and arriving in the world of darkness, the group that had started out as just Mimi, Joe, with their digimon partners, Theo, Yui and Ogremon, had grown into a larger family. While they were on their way here, their numbers had increased.

Along the way, they'd run into familiar faces from File Island: Frigimon and Meramon. Since there was no telling when Piemon's subordinates would attack them if they were separated, they all joined together as a group with Mimi at its center. When they were up on a hill, a large earthquake hit briefly and they saw the city section receding from Spiral mountain.

"The city is disappearing!" Mimi gasped

"Tai and the others must have defeated another Dark Master." Joe said.

"Ha, more good news!" Theo smirked.

"Agumon and the others sure are working hard!" Gomamon cheered.

"That makes three down, right? Now there's only one more left." Palmon recalled.

"That would be Piedmon." Ogremon told us.

"The last Dark Master who controls the darkness…" Meramon looked over the hill behind them.

"Rumor has it that he's the strongest of the Dark Masters." Frigimon noted.

Yui, who was smiling, frowned briefly. "Oh great, the Digimon version of the Joker who tried to chat up Beth."

"Huh?" The other three digimon looked at her. Did they miss something?

"We'll explain later." Yui replied.

"All right. In any case, we better gather more allies before we meet up again with the others." Joe explained as they all began marching up the hill.

As they did so, Ogremon trembled. "Frigimon, leave me alone!" He could feel the effects of the icy exterior of the snow man digimon. "I'm cold because of you!"

However, he almost walked into Meramon. "Ah! You're too hot! You guys are the strangest beings I've ever met!"

"Really?" Theo raised her eyebrows. "You lived your whole life surrounded by digimon of all shapes and sizes, ran into fairies and you say those two are the weirdest thing in all this?"

Behind them, Mimi's exhaustion caught up with her as she stopped to sit on her knees.

"I'm tired… I can't walk anymore… I'm sleepy… and I'm hungry!" she said.

"The princ- I mean, Mimi is hungry, ribbit." Gekomon caught on.

"Wait right here, tama. We'll come back with food soon, tama!" Otamamon explained.

Mimi raised her head in surprise. "Wait, I didn't say that out loud so you to serve me!"

Although the Gekomon and the tamamon didn't really mind.

"We know, ribbit! Don't worry about it, ribbit!"

"We just want to make ourselves useful, tama. Wait right here, tama."

"Hey, I'll come with you!" Frigimon followed them with Theo.

Minutes later, Gekomon, Otamamon and Frigimon returned with two basketfuls of varied foods.

"Mimi! Sorry for the wait, ribbit!"

Theo smirked. "Check it out: We got quite a haul."

"Wow!" Mimi picked up a whole liter of soda. "You even brought soda! Oh, it's not cold."

"Give that to me." Frigimon clutched the bottle to his chest before handing it back. "Here you go."

And Meramon was holding some fish that he fried. "These fish will be done in no time!"

"Hey, you guys are good to have around!" Ogremon admitted.

As they all feasted, Yui shared with their group a tale from their home.

"The Deathly hallows, Legend has it that possessing all three would make you the master of death…"

Frigimon blinked. "Master of Death? But how?"

Joe suggested. "Well why don't you tell us?"

Yui cleared her throat and began. "There were once three brothers, who were travelling along a lonely winding road at twilight…"

She told of how the brothers reached a treacherous river. They make a magical bridge over the river wherein just as they cross, they meet the personification of Death, who is angry for losing three potential victims. However being sly, he grants each a wish as a reward. The oldest brother asks for an unbeatable dueling wand, so Death gives him the Elder Wand. The middle brother asks for the ability to resurrect the dead, so Death gives him the Resurrection Stone. The youngest brother does not trust Death and asks for a way to stop Death from following him, so Death reluctantly gives him his Cloak of Invisibility. Afterward, the brothers went their separate ways.

The oldest brother resolves a previous quarrel by using the wand to kill the man with whom he quarreled, but his bragging about the wand's incredible power ends with him getting robbed of it and murdered in his sleep. The middle brother resolves a previous loss by using the stone to bring back the woman to whom he wanted to be married, but the sight of her being partly alive and full of sorrow for being back in the mortal world ends with him ending his own life. The youngest brother Death never manages to find, as he stays hidden under his cloak. Many years later, the brother removes his cloak and gives it to his son.

Yui then finishes the story. "Content with the life he has lived, he then greeted death as an old friend and gladly went with him, departing this life as equals."

"These hallows… did they exist?"

Yui nods and leans back against the tree she was resting on. "Yep, and they're all exactly where they should be. Now that you know, which one would you have chosen?"

Immediately several members of the group spoke – each with different opinions.

Ogremon, Meramon, Palmon and Gomamon opted. "The wand."

Joe, Frigimon, Otamamon & Gekomon chose. "The cloak."

Mimi said without hesitation. "The resurrection stone."

Surprised, they all stared at each other after answering.

"But it's a fairy tale with a moral basically: the cloak was the wisest choice according to Death." Theo elaborated.

She shows them the symbol by using her flames. First_,__a straight vertical line for the Elder wand. Then a circle on top of the line for the Resurrection stone. Then encloses both line and circle in a triangle to represent the invisibility cloak - all three are the Deathly hallows._

It was an unusual story but it certainly gave them a lot to think about. Soon afterwards, everyone was sleeping, resting up before they would continue to search for more friends and allies. Theo and Ogremon were taking first watch.

Joe was asleep until he dreamed of being back at the Big Sight and the words his brother had spoken to him:

_"Joe, you don't have to force yourself to become a doctor."__  
"But Dad told me to study for that…"  
"Dad has his own opinions. You've got to find your own path."_

Joe then got up and walked to where Ogremon was standing guard. "Um, Ogremon?"

"What?"

"Are you on watch duty? We can switch."

"Me, switch with you?" He questioned. "You sure you can handle it?"

Joe became indignant with the remark. "Hey, even someone like me can handle this!"

"Really? Okay, it's all yours." The green ogre then walked off to find a sleeping spot with the others.

Joe looked towards the valley. "Find my own path by myself, huh?" He then thought of Matt's words. "Matt… Were you able to find it? Your own path…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Tai's group had landed quite close to the peak of Spiral Mountain and sought shelter in a cave nearby with Andromon keeping watch. The next morning, the sun rose but didn't shine, hidden behind the thick dark clouds.

Just promised they made a small grave marker for Sirene. Haruna created flower wreaths made from carnations, tulips, and roses which Kylie and Beth placed on the marker gently. Either way, the deceased nymph was Kylie's mother and deserved some form of last rites. Dana, Kylie, Kari and T.K. were on their knees praying.

"I have so much to thankful for, thanks to you, Mother." Kylie said. "Having met you in itself was a miracle, Gatomon and I cherish dearly."

"Sirene. I will never forget what you've done for all of us." Kari prayed.

Behind the praying children and guardians, Patamon and Gatomon exchanged solemn glances before putting their own paws together as a form of prayer like their partners.

"We'll do our best so you that all the digimon that perished here can be reborn safely in the Village of Beginnings." T.K. added.

"Amen." Kari finished.

While the rest were trudging over a hill to get good look at their bearings.

"Any of know where we reached?" Tai questioned.

"Hey, look!" Sora pointed ahead.

Across a long rocky valley they saw a sort dome like structure with a large telescope. This could only be Piedmon's lair.

* * *

What they didn't know was that they were being watched by the final dark master himself.

"How delightful to see the Chosen ones come this far," He sneered raising a glass to them, "I should give them nice reward for their efforts."

A hand grabs his shoulder, curled into a claw as it squeezed him in anger.

"Those wretched creatures and their tamers, those pixies...all of them...killed my beloved children." The voice of Despair said in a sadness wretched voice.

"Rest assured, Mother." Piedmon reached up to pat her hand in comforting manner. "They will suffer for their crimes."

And suddenly, behind them the outline of a upside down head with red, glowing eyes appeared out of the darkness of the room.

"Oh pleeeease My Lady and Lord Piedmon, allow me to reap the screaming anguish out of those miserable urchins for you," A female voice spoke up in pleading tone.

Piedmon replied, "Try not to be rude, give them the highest standard of our hospitality."

Lady Despair raises her head to stare hard at the figure. "Oh, you may inflict your vicious glee on them, My Dear. But only on the digimon and children," Lady Despair stated sternly. "Do what you like with them, but I want the fairies ALIVE and unharmed..." Lady Despair rubs her hands together gleefully. "Kylie and her little red haired trollop of a friend will soon learn the full force of anger and power!"

"Mother, I was planning to..." Piedmon speaks out against her harming Beth, but cuts off when Sierra whirls on him with a furious expression.

Her eyes turned blood red, her teeth became fangs, and her hair moved like it was live snakes. "YOU CAN PLAY WITH THE SPITFIRE **AFTER** I'M DONE!" Lady Despair booms, before she disappears in an explosion of red mist.

"As you wish." The mysterious figure above replied then vanished into the darkness, laughing maliciously.

* * *

When they had previously visited the Village of Beginnings, it had vividly-colored saplings, an elastic ground that was as soft as a cushion, and the cries of newborn baby Digimon everywhere. It had been so full of life, but now that it was built into the world of darkness, it looked as ravaged as lost historic ruins.

"See? What did I tell you? " Ogremon said sadly as they stood at the village entrance. He was the one who had led them there.  
Having lost his purpose in life with Leomon's death, Ogremon felt that the devastation of the village was like a physical manifestation of what he was feeling.

Upon entering the village, they could see there were several digieggs left there. But all of them were petrified, with no chances of hatching.

"I almost didn't want to believe it." Theo mumbled, she'd put her hands in her pockets morosely.

"This is where the Digimon are born?" Yui questioned softly, she sadly touched one of the eggs.

"It used to be." Gomamon replied his eyes downcast.

"The most precious of all places, one of the first things amp her Sirene created during her tenure as Guardian Nymph, the village of beginnings was cursed by Lady Despair not long after she came back to the digital world." Ogremon said sadly.

He shut his eyes, the horrible image was still in his mind, it had been broadcasted all over the digital world. Lady Despair, laughing wickedly, as she cast red lightning from her fingertips, striking the village and draining the color out of it.

"She could not destroy it," Ogremon narrates. "But Despair cursed it, draining the vitality out of it to maintain her own youth and vigor."

"This is terrible… all those digieggs are now so lifeless…" Mimi had been prepared for this after hearing Ogremon's story, but looking at it with her own eyes filled her heart with deep sorrow all the same.

With the Village of Beginnings like this, no Digimon could be reborn. In other words, the Digital World had its future stolen from it.

Yui croaked. "Is this what Despair wants? I thought her Dark Master kids just wanted to rule the Digital World. But they want to change the Digital World into a world with no future, no chance for rebirth? What's the point in ruling a world like that?!"

Joe felt like saying something, but he hesitated. What he wanted to say was this: that he didn't see any likelihood of co-existing with the Dark Masters, and that they had no other choice but to fight them. Even a neutral country like Switzerland had a military. They would be invaded by enemy countries without one. It would be nice and ideal if they used the nonviolent resistance approach as Gandhi did. But that didn't mean it was okay to just be killed without lifting a finger… But not even he could find a good answer.

QUESTION: Under what circumstances is it okay to battle?

That sort of question would never appear on a school test, and he'd never once thought about it before…

At that moment, the silence of the area was broken by the sound of a familiar instrument.

Joe stopped and looked to his left. "What's wrong, Joe?"

"Just now, I thought I heard-"

But the sound rang out again. "It sounds just like a harmonica!" Theo exclaimed.

"I knew it!" Joe began to follow the sound with Gomamon chasing after him.

"That could only be…" Mimi thought.

"Matt's harmonica!" Palmon believed.

Ogremon, Frigimon and Meramon hurried after them. "Hey, wait for us!"

* * *

Meanwhile those that arrived to the top of Spiral mountain were watching as Izzy plugged a cord that connected to Andromon, who was kneeling.

"What are you doing, Izzy?" questioned Tai.

"You'll all know in a moment. Whenever you are ready, Andromon."

"Understood." Andromon placed his hands on the ground.

Once he does, a wire frame map of Spiral Mountain was shown in full detail on Izzy's laptop much to the others' amazement.

"Yes. Izzy's very smart!" Tentomon said proudly.

"And the place we are located right now… is up here." Izzy points to a red dot blinked on the map at the very top of the mountain.

"We're all the way at the top." said Kari.

Beth nods firmly, "We made it there after all."

"Well, remember what Chuumon said?" T.K. recalled. "Yeah, he said all the Dark Masters lived on top of Spiral Mountain."

"Then… What we're seeing over there is…" Sora glanced at the dome structure.

"Their base." Tai finished her sentence.

"That's here alright." Kylie said looking around.

Just then, a rapid beeping noise was heard from the laptop.

"Someone is approaching." Andromon informed. "Be very careful."

Everyone reacted, and the intruder was revealed, a dark figure flew up from the space below the cliff they stood on to look at the castle in the distance.

A strange, female digimon appeared, flying before them from below the cliff, everyone stood on, and was dressed in a leather outfit, with a mask, revealing only her white hair and ruby red eyes. Chains jingled on her outfit, which was like a michelle pieffer catwoman suit. One of her arms, the left arm, was exposed, with pale dead-white skin, and grotesquely long compared to the other one. This left arm ended in a massive hand with large fingers tipped with sharp claws.

Her costume was covered in stitching and wrapped all around with chains, one of which seemed to bolt right to her left leg, which was also bare and pale-white. Parts of her clothing looked like they were alive - what seemed to be glaring red ghostly eyes could be seen at her right knee and foot, with the stitching near them looking horribly like mouths. What should have been a scarf trailing off from her collarbone was actually a fluttering ghostly creature with red eyes and a ripped mouth, and a ragged arm and hand of its own. Touching off the look was a cape that was more like a pair of twisted bat wings.

"Welcome to the top of Spiral Mountain, my adorable little boys." The female digimon cackled.

The boys all gasped, but the girls frowned at her in visible dislike.

"I don't like the look of that digimon." Sora growled.

"What kind is she?" Kari proclaims.

"What's her name anyway?" Kylie asked, shivering.

"She's one of the nightmare soldiers," Andromon declared. "She is Lady Devimon."

"Far be it for me to disgrace Lord Piedmon and Lady Despair by not granting such an esteemed guest a warm welcome," Lady Devimon strikes an attack pose. "Allow me to lay you to rest..._for eternity_!"

Koromon lunges up at LadyDevimon, digivolving into Agumon, releasing a ball of fire at the evil Digimon. She laughed as the fire ball disappeared against her chest, and smacks Agumon back to the ground, where Kylie had jumped to catch him.

"Agumon!" Kylie and Tai gasped in alarm.

The digimon took this chance to digivolve and for the girls to take on fairy form. Kabuterimon, Birdramon, Angemon, Angewomon, Haruna, Zaira, Dana and Kylie surrounded the dark digimon. But she didn't seem concerned at all, as she smiled wickedly.

"Ah, don't worry, little darlings. I shall take care of all of you," LadyDevimon narrows her eyes at Kylie. "But I shall spare the redhead and Sirene's heir, My Lady and Lord Piedmon desire they be left alive." LadyDevimon raised her arms over her head in a pose. "But I wasn't told I couldn't rough you up a bit," she then spun in a pirouette.

~**DARKNESS WAVE~**

And from the body of LadyDevimon erupts a wave of dark, purple gas and black bats shot forth, colliding against the fairies, and digimon. Everyone screamed in pain, Kylie and others erupting a magical barrier, barely lessened the devastating attack.

"Spiral wave!" Andromon shot out his attack at LadyDevimon.

She deflects it with a wave of her hand.

"Mega Blaster!" Kabuterrimon shouts, unleashing a massive ball of electricity.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon flaps her wings, sending out a shower of flames.

"Aeolus Blast!" Dana shouts, and thrust out a strong wind current at LadyDevimon.

"Lightning Scythe!" Zaira chants, conjuring up digital, violet, crescent blades shot out.

LadyDevimon flips up her right hand to swipe aside the gust, while her left electricity and violet blades.

"Ahahahaha~ You think those attacks will affect me?" LadyDevimon cackles. "I may not be born from Lady Despair's blood, but I am powerful enough to be close to Lord Piedmon's level."

"Deadly Snare!" Haruna calls out. She thrusts her hands out at LadyDevimon, and black vines burst out of the ground to entangle the fallen digimon.

"Ahh-hahahaha!" LadyDevimon seems to scream at first, but instead laughs "Oh! Getting a little rough, eh?" LadyDevimon snickers. "I can do rougher!"

LadyDevimon shot out beams of red energy from her eyes, blasting through the vines of the plant. And the beams dragged a gouge across the ground, almost striking Haruna, if Beth didn't shield her with her own magic shield.

"NAIAD STRIKE!" Sara G cries out.

A torrent of water blasts at LadyDevimon, who lets off the eyebeams, spinning rapidly to deflect the water.

~**Infernal Bats~**~ LadyDevimon flings out her hands, and a swarm of bats made of fire fly out, and swarm around Sara G.

"Electro-Shield!" Zaira flings herself out in front of Sara, deflecting the fire bats.

"Interfering tramp!" LadyDevimon holds out her large hand, and it contorts and thins out into a black spear.

~**Darkness Spear**~

LadyDevimon lunges towards the two fairies, the two reacting in alarm.

"PSIONIC HEART!"

Beth comes to the rescue this time, with a blast of hot pink hearts made of Energy, blocking the deadly plunge to the heart that LadyDevimon attack almost did.

"Ahaha! So, the little fairy has thorns, does she?" LadyDevimon leers. "You don't know who you're messing with, little pixie."

"And neither do you!" Beth grits out, trying to hold her back.

"I am the bodyguard of lord Piedmon, son of the Queen of Darkness, Lady Despair!" LadyDevimon states proudly. "I even have part of her name in my own, a great honor. And I will ensure you never lay a hand on either of them!"

She shoots up in the air, and is instantly surrounded by the other digimon and Fairies.

"HEAVEN KNUCKLE!" Angemon shouts.

"SEVEN CROWNS! " Kylie summoned.

LadyDevimon turns to dodge, just as another voice shouts out.

"CELESTIAL ARROW!"

And an arrow of holy energy shoots down, and slashes at the side of LadyDevimon, causing her to scream out in pain. She'd mocked the guardian's attacks before, yet it seemed Angewomon's attacks having an effect, seemed to touch a nerve.

Without warning, LadyDevimon swopped at the female angel with an uppercut.

"Okay, I'm joining them-" Agumon attempted to rush ahead but Tai stopped him.

"Wait, not yet Agumon!"

"Why, Tai? I can take her down in an instant as a Mega-level!"

Tai then explained himself, "All right. Sora, T.K., Zaira and Haruna I want you to go with Birdramon and Angemon to find Matt and the others and bring them back."

"But they're fighting right now." Sora protested.

"No. The rest of our Digimon should be able to take her down. If something goes wrong, we always have WarGreymon, Kylie and Beth as our trump cards."

"I'm a trump card!" Agumon chuckled.

"And that's not all we're in the enemy's base, which means we'll soon have to fight..."

"Piedmon." Izzy said grimly.

"He's most likely in his den. The problem is we don't know when he'll show up. What we do know, though, is that he's powerful."

"So before Piedmon shows up, you want us to bring Onii-chan and the others here, right?" T.K. figured it out.

"It is exactly as Tai says. I'm surprised that he has thought that far ahead!" Izzy admitted his surprise.

"It's just like soccer." He continued. "I figured it out after Matt, Mimi, and Joe left… Just fighting with reckless abandon like I'd used to isn't enough. We can't allow ourselves to make any more sacrifices."

"That means divide and conquer..." Zaira guessed.

"But there's still Despair," Sora points out. "She's very powerful, Tai. She'll kill Kylie first chance she gets, you know what will happen...this is her last child." She clutches at her tag and crest. "It's warped...but she still has a mother's love for her children," Sora said sadly. "And that love will turn to hate, and make her stronger."

"That's why we need Matt and Gabumon more than ever," Tai said. "She can't stand up to all of us at once, and she'll be weak against Garudamon, Sora."

"That's right! The crest of love, it's energy will be running through Garudamon, and will be lethal to her..." Beth said in surprise.

"Leave this to me!" Angewomon shouted to Angemon, Birdramon and the other guardians.

Angemon nodded. "Please!"

Angewomon smiled warmly, however as she was distracted, LadyDevimon kicked her in and sent her crashing into the rocks.

"Now you're in for it!" Angewomon snapped.

Angemon picked up T.K. into his arms, Dana and Zaira flew alongside him while Sora grabbed onto Birdramon's talons.

"Those words you've just said, Tai… I'll be sure to pass them along to Matt, Mimi and the rest of our friends!" Sora promised.

"We'll bring them back, you can count on it!" Dana promised.

"Okay! Hurry!"

No sooner had they left, when villainous laughter filled the air Kylie's head shoot up in recognition before she could even transform into Enchantix mode. From the sky a plume of red smoke descended towards the ground. Once there the cloud took a humanoid shape, that of a woman. Wearing a dark cloak, holding a staff, her hair like sunshine gold. An air of confidence and dark intent coming off her as she stared down the heroine.

"You impress me, Sirene's Daughter. But I have a lot of children," Lady Despair points at her accusingly. "And you will ALL pay for each of their deaths!" She looks heartbroken. "Devimon, Myotismon, MetalSeadramon, Machinedramon, Metaletemon...WHO I LOST TWICE! And Puppetmon, my poor sweet baby, who never got to play with friends. WELL, I'LL SEND YOU ALL TO HELL TO PLAY WITH HIM!"

She whirls around super-fast in the air, screeching at the top of her lungs, before she stops. "For now, I am here for your blood. " Lady Despair said sinisterly surprising the fairy.

"M-my blood, is not yours to have. " Kylie said defiantly.

"I wasn't asking for permission. " she said with a grin pointing her scepter at Kylie. "And with it I will revive my dead children."

"You wish to battle me?" Kylie said trying to stand but failing.

"Under the usual circumstances no, you are too powerful. But here we have a golden opportunity, you battered and weakened. How could I turn down this chance!" Lady Despair said as she spun her scepter and with a flash and gleam the top of her scepter, the black, crystal horned skull turned into a blade.

Lady Despair grinned sinisterly as Kylie look visibly worried. The fairy gulped, pulled out something from her sleeve and pointed at it, whispering "En guarde." Amidst turquoise and light blue sparks, a long silver sword appeared in her hand.

* * *

The harmonica they heard however wasn't Matt but Elecmon with the instrument. Joe didn't know if Digimon aged, but he appeared much older than the last time he, Mimi and Theo had seen him. Not in the way he looked, but in the way he walked. The loss of Primary Village must've been a terrible blow for Elecmon.

"You've come back," Elecmon said feebly, but he smiled at them. "I thought maybe that was the case. Three of the Dark Masters got taken down so fast, I knew it had to be you."

"It's Tai and the others, to be more precise," Joe answered. "We separated from the group for reasons. We don't know how the others got taken down besides MetalSeadramon."

"Separated from the group…" Come to think of it, Elecmon noticed, he didn't see Kylie, T.K. and Patamon among them. "What on earth are you trying to achieve by working separately? I mean, what sort of job are you—?"

"Umm…" Joe said, struggling for an answer, but Mimi said quite nonchalantly, "Nothing. I was just running away."

Theo jerked her thumb at Mimi. "SHE was running away, Yui and I were trying to either convince her to go back with the others or force her back home alone."

"Running away? From what?"

"From fighting. I thought that there could be a way to save the Digital World without having to fight."

"…Is there?" Elecmon asked out of genuine curiosity.

"It doesn't look like it," Mimi shook her head. It seemed that was what the older girls had so forcibly attempted to show her.

"Yeah, I guess there isn't," Elecmon agreed grimly. "So, what are you going to do now? Are you still going to keep running?"

Mimi acknowledged, "No. I quit running. Come, let's go back to the others."

"O–Okay…" Joe answered, but after seeing all of the Digimon gathered around them, he began to reconsider that maybe they didn't have to return so soon.

"Hey, why don't we continue this journey and gather friends?" Joe suggested.

"Gather friends?" Gomamon asked.

"Yeah. I think that we have our own fight, in the same way that Tai, the guardians and the others have theirs. I mean, we should form a group not to recruit troops but to protect ourselves from the enemy. Let's continue this journey. Otherwise, we would have just been wasting time separating from the others."

_That's right. There isn't just one path that you're meant to take. You're free to choose the path for yourself… Isn't that right, Shin?_

"I agree!" Mimi said cheerfully. She was back to her old self. "I expected nothing less from you, Joe! I'm so glad it was you who came with me. Well, everyone, let's go!"

"Not so fast, I think Joey Jojo here's trying to explain something." Theo stopped her.

Joe stared at the other side of the river. "Mimi, Theo, Yui, we've gathered a lot of friends who will help us, so… you'll be okay without having me and Gomamon around, right?"

"What do you mean? Are you going somewhere, Joe?" Mimi questioned.

"I'm… going after Matt."

"Then we should all go together!" Mimi insisted.

"No. Only Gomamon and I will go."

"Why?!"

"Everyone should take their own path."

"Our own path?"

"Your path is to find more Digimon who will join us. Tai's path, the guardians path...along with the others, is to continue the fight- But no, we can't let them keep it up alone. I have to fight as well. But… I'm not that strong, and there's no way Gomamon will reach his Mega level. So, that made me think the two of us will only drag the others down if we stayed with them. But there must be something out there that only I can do. Maybe Matt grew aware of that, too. That's why I'm going after him! Er, so, that's what I had in mind, but… do you think it's a good idea?"

"Of course it is!" Gomamon answered. "It's what you decided, Joe!"

"Uh-uh, you ain't going..." Theo interrupted then added with a bright smile. "Without me!" If any so that she can drag Matt by the ear back to the others if they had to. She then turned to Yui. "Ok, Yui? You and Mimi know what to do?"

"Got it!" Yui held a thumbs up.

* * *

"BLEED FOR ME KYLIE PANTHEON!" Lady Despair yells as she slashes at Kylie and from her blade thousands of tiny needles flew at Kylie at high speeds.

"My sister!" Angewomon cried, she swooped down to try and help.

LadyDevimon grabbed her by the hair, I'm your opponent, don't forget!

"And I won't have any interruptions from you or the little pests!" Despair snapped her fingers, causing a forcefield to go up around the section where she and Kylie would duel.

The other Chosen children with their digimon and the guardians could only bang their fists against the barrier in vain.

Kylie saw this and reacted fast picking up her sword and masterfully swinging it. In a blur of sparks and the sound of the air being cut, Kylie blocked all the needles with her blade sending them in different directions. Once the needles stopped Kylie was on her feet, sword at the ready though she looked tired as she panted. Lady Despair smiled and lunged at Kylie, her blade raised, Kylie seeing her descend reached behind her back and pulled out another sword. With both swords she blocked the strike but was forced to a knee as she pushed against Lady Despair. Summoning up some strength with a grunt she pushed Sierra off and shoved her back, as Sierra stumbled with her blades raised Kylie went to slash at her body. But Lady Despair grinned and suddenly transformed back into a cloud, the blades harmlessly going through her.

Kylie was shocked by this, even more when the cloud went through her. It was thick like smog and hard to breath in, making her cough. The cloud came behind her and reformed back into Lady Despair. She slashed at Kylie's back, she managed to react quickly putting her swords behind her back and blocked the sword strike. Kylie quickly turned around a parried another strike at her head.

Lady Despair seeing an opening fired a kick to Kylie's side, the younger blonde screamed out in pain doubling over her arms going to her side. Lady Despair let out a laugh as she kicked Kylie in the face sending her to the ground.

Kylie screamed as she rolled across the dirt stopping on her back with a pained groan. Lady Despair raised her blade again and swung releasing her needles at Kylie. With both swords Kylie began swinging and deflecting the needles. Though now she was panting and Lady Despair knew she was slowing down, within the thousands of Needles Lady Despair sent one to Kylie's right hand. It pierced through her hand and with a pained scream one of her swords flew off to the side.

"YOU'RE MINE NOW!" Lady Despair said as she swung again releasing more needles.

Kylie knew her strength was depleting and could no longer deflect the attacks. The Fairy Nymph gritted her teeth and charged forward toward the attack blade raised. Taking in the brunt of the damage the needles piercing her body but none of her vitals, she managed to get close to Lady Despair and swing at her. Lady Despair was surprised by this and raised her own. The two then engaged in a vicious duel of blades, clangs, swipes, and sparks filling the air as their blades met and collided. The two circled as the swung each trying to find an opening, the two fought for supremacy. Kylie fought through the pain in her side trying to fight back, but she knew that in her current condition he couldn't keep this up. Suddenly for a moment her eyes darted to the side.

"Don't lose focus!" Lady Despair yelled swinging at Kylie.

Kylie ducked under the blade and back flipped away from Lady Despair. Once on her feet she locked eyes with the villainess and ran to the side circling her. Lady Despair noticed this and followed suit, the two of them running side by side. Kylie then darted at her blade raised making Lady Despair do the same as their blades crashed as they past each other. Once they did Kylie turned around and leapt into the sky over Sierra, once again she followed. The two soared into the air and at each other. Both letting out battle cries as their blades swung.

**SLASH!**

Lady Despair landed on her knees letting out a pained scream, holding her face. Kylie landed on the ground silently, her last sword falling to the ground a distance away. Lady Despair turned to reveal a grizzly gash over her mouth, carved from her neck upwards, black blood pouring from it. She looked at Kylie, until blood slowly trailed out of a cut on the young Nymph's shoulder and Kylie silently fell to her side.

"Finally!" Sierra cheered as she pulled out a goblet and ran stumbling towards Kylie, Pulling her violently to her knees by her hair. Her eyes mesmerized by the crimson liquid spilling from Kylie's shoulder.

"After all this time, it's finally mine!" She said as the liquid filled the cup.

"Y-Y-Y-." Kylie stammered.

"This maybe enough, but maybe I should slit your throat just to be safe." Lady Despair mused.

"Y-You need to be-more aware of your-surroundings." Kylie said seriously.

Lady Despair let out a pained scream, she looked down to see a golden sword stabbed into her belly.

"I needed to get in position to get my blade back, and luckily you were too assured in your victory to notice." Kylie said as she removed the blade.

Lady Despair let out a pained gag as her own blood spilled from her, her strength dwindled as she dropped the goblet spilling Kylie's blood. She fell to the ground looking upon the split blood in horror.

"The blood...the blood..." Lady Despair crawled desperately towards the spilled mess, cupping the shattered goblet in her hands. "N-no, it was mine. I was so close...My Sons, I failed you." Lady Despair cursed before slumping to the ground dead.

Kylie stood up on shaky legs holding her wounds as she watched Lady Despair's body turn into black smoke and vanish. She breathed heavily and bowed her head.

* * *

Piedmon knew Ladydevimon stood no chance of winning against the children. Her true purpose was to exhaust Angewomon so she'd be useless in the upcoming battle against him. Piedmon saw it all through the screen including the temporary defeat of Lady Despair (he did not know that this merely forced her out of the Digiworld) his hand had shattered the wine glass in his hand, the blood, and red wine mixing. But the pain in his hand, it was nothing, it was nothing.

"Mother..." Piedmon whispered in disbelief.

She couldn't be...his mother, his strong, beautiful mother...gone.

What wretched irony, what horrid fate, that the same pain he inflicted on Kylie all those years ago. Now was focused on him, like a glaring spotlight.

* * *

Everyone out in the distance, jumped in alarm, shocked by a horrible, grief-stricken scream of utter rage as the barrier Despair had set up disappeared.

Angewomon knew full well what it meant and knew it was time to finish her fight with LadyDevimon. "Playtime is over. Prepare yourself!"

"You're wrong-"

"Heaven's Charm!" The pink cross of celestial energy shot out.

"Lord Piedmon...!" LadyDevimon screamed as she disintegrated.

"They did it!" Kari cheered

Megakabuterimon and Angewomon flew back to their partners and changed back. Kylie went to Kari and Gatomon, exchanging hushed words with each other while Tentomon asked Izzy if there was anything on his back, to which he received a negative.

Tai, Agumon and Beth then straightened up scowling at something in the distance.

"He's coming." Tai alerted then pulled out his telescope and looked through to be certain. Piedmon's walking this way.

Kylie tensed up momentarily then a soft purple kiss mark on Kylie's forehead glowed. When the light faded, the energy she'd lost during her fight with Despair had been restored.

"The last Dark Master." said Izzy.

"This is it." Beth said to Kylie sternly.

"All right. Go get him, Agumon." Tai gave the word.

"Okay, Tai! Agumon, warp-evolve to… WARGREYMON!"

Beth and Kylie changed to Enchantix level. They were ready to fight, ready to buy the time needed so that the others could return.

**_To be continued…_**


	38. Friendship returns

"Magnificent work, just magnificent." Piedmon had, at some point, appeared standing behind them unawares. He was pretending to applaud them.

With a polite bow of greeting at Angewomon, he then said, "Would you like to have a round with me, if you wish, mademoiselle?"

But knowing that Piedmon was a Mega level and responsible for the death of her mother, she responded. "You're fighting against WarGreymon!"

Piedmon didn't look disappointed. "Very well. I would be dealing with you sooner or later anyway."

"You're not gonna win! "

"You'll pay for what you did to our mother!" Kylie cried.

"My Lady wished for the nymph to be destroyed, so no one could halt her corruption of the digital world," Piedmon pulls out a sword and examines it. "How well I remember her final gasp, and the name of her daughter, her last word."

WarGreymon tries the frontal assault with his claws only for the demonic jester to dodge them. Then WG kicks the Dark Master into a hill.

Tai cried, "You got him!"

Beth worried. "Without so much as raising the ki? Doubtful." She was right, soon as she mentioned it their opponent is heard chuckling derisively.

"Do the Chosen ones rely on childish attacks such as this to get by?" Piedmon leaped down. "I am sorely disappointed. I'd thought you'd have a bit more mettle."

The other guardians join in only for the chief Dark Master to front flip out of the way. He jumped up and used Trump swords on Wargreymon and the other guardians - the guardians dodge (not without getting some hair locks cut) then flew right back for another blow. Beth barely dodges them, one cuts her sleeve.

"Ah! Sweet momentos," Piedmon sighed as he snatched up the locks of hair.

WarGreymon unleashed his Gaia Force. It exploded violently towards Piedmon, but Piedmon said quite unconcernedly,  
"Hehehe. It's quite rude to be using your special attack right off the bat. I will respond in turn then… Trump Sword!"

The four swords on Piedmon's back vanished, reappearing the next instant in a rectangular formation before WarGreymon, ready to skewer him.

"Look out!"

WarGreymon hurriedly took off the Brave Shield on his back to guard himself. It managed to shield his upper body, but his unprotected legs were each pierced through with a sword. WarGreymon fell to the ground, unable to walk.

Piedmon ambled up to him with a calm expression on his face. "Is that painful? Then I will remove the pain for you."  
He snapped his fingers together and a chainsaw appeared out of thin air. "Now, ladies and gentlemen! What you are able to see next is a magic trick where I will cut this mon's body in half! I will be cutting through his belly in order to sever off his legs! Behold, ladies and gentlemen!" As he spoke, he turned on the chainsaw's switch and brought it down to cut off WarGreymon's legs much to the others' horror.

"Flipendo!" Beth moved her right hand in a downward diagonal to the right, followed by an upward diagonal movement  
to the right and ending with a swish.

Fortunately, it did the trick, knocking the chainsaw out of Piedmon's reach and away from WarGreymon's legs.

"Thanks!" WarGreymon leapt to his feet.

"I knew that power transfer experiment would come in handy!" Beth crowed.

Now they just needed reinforcements to finish the fight.

* * *

Right, left, up, and down; their entire surroundings were a jet-black darkness. How long had Matt and Gabumon spent surrounded by this cold darkness?  
One hour… Two hours… No, one day? One week?

Humans go mad when they are trapped in darkness for a long period of time — He had read that in a book somewhere.

Fortunately for Matt and Gabumon, a light that was as faint as a single candle was with them wherever they walked. The source of the light was Matt's digivice, and that meager light protected them, managing to shield them from the darkness trying to enter into them. And, like a pair who was trapped in a mountain hut during a blizzard and was gathering before the light of a weak stove for warmth, the two huddled close together.  
But even though Gabumon was in such close contact with Matt, he felt that Matt's heart was somewhere far, far away.

That was because Matt had a faint idea that his own self-hatred, his heart of darkness, was what had drawn this darkness to them, and his guilty conscience had obstinately closed off his heart.  
Matt's biggest miscalculation had been that he thought he could control the power of his hatred. But in the same way that temptation is easy to give in to, yielding to evil deeds make a person lose their self-control or even, by letting their emotions get the better of them, make them do horrible things without thinking. Controlling temptation (the power of darkness) was not easy (even if one could).

But that small power of darkness was not like a virulent virus that hung in the air. It lay within humans; in the hearts of all humans.  
It didn't mean that Matt was a wicked person. Most likely, it was because he had rushed too quickly.  
He felt so compelled stop fighting the enemy that he had allowed his choices to be made out of hatred. His justification of isolating himself from the others had robbed him of the time and effort that he could have used to divert that energy towards a goal of more acceptable social and moral nature.

"Maybe I didn't understand," Matt began to mutter. "That's right. I thought that Tai had no tact and only thought superficially about everything. But I was wrong. He's decisive and he has leadership… Unlike me… I'm just a useless person…"

"You're wrong. You're not a useless person, Matt!"

Hearing Gabumon's voice brought Matt out of his trance. He thought he had been speaking only to himself. He had completely forgotten that Gabumon was beside him.

"I'm no good… As proof, even my own brother T.K. likes Tai better. But of course he does. Tai is more like an older brother."

"That's not true!"

"I don't have the right to act like T.K.'s brother… I just wanted to feel comfortable in my position as his brother. I wanted to convince myself into believing that the only person T.K. had was me…"

"Stop that!"

"That's why I was so mad at Tai… But I finally realize that. No one needs me… It makes no difference if I'm there or not…"

"No! There are plenty of good things about you that only you have!"

"Enough… Just leave me alone."

"Matt…"

Gabumon knew that whatever he said wouldn't cut through. Matt's eyes had a faraway look in them.

If talking didn't work— Chomp! Gabumon bit Matt's leg.

Matt grimaced. "What are you doing?!" He turned to Gabumon and sucked in his breath. Gabumon was crying. Why…? For whom…?

"There's only one of you in this world, Matt. Isn't that right?" Gabumon appealed to him fervently, holding back his own sobbing.

Matt was so overwhelmed by his pressure that he reluctantly nodded.

"Then why do you compare yourself with Tai? Of course you and Tai are different! You're T.K.'s brother, Matt! Saying that Tai is more like his brother makes no sense!"

"Gabumon…"

"Besides… besides… if you weren't here, then what would I do? I waited in this world all my life just to meet you and you alone!"

Matt couldn't say anything.

"Do you really not want me around? Do you really want to be alone, Matt? Then I'll leave here and disappear for good. But only if you really want that!"

"N–No…" Matt hurriedly shook his head, as if he'd thought that Gabumon would immediately leave. "I was lying when I said that I wanted to be alone. I was just putting on airs. The truth is...Beth was right: I DO want to be needed. All I do is keep putting up airs and not letting people get close to me, but—"

In Matt's mind, the sight of his mother that day pulling T.K. by the hand as they left them came to him vividly.

That's right. Why hadn't he said it back then? _Don't go, Mom, don't go…_

"The truth is, I was lonely… But back then, I thought that I absolutely must not cry. Because I was alone, I wanted to think of myself as this worthy person who could do anything alone. But… the truth is… I wanted to cry."  
_Don't go… Please come back, Mom! _  
"I hate… being alone." Matt spoke as if he had changed back into a small child.

"Then…" Gabumon said fiercely, "Lean on me! Need me the same way that I need you! Then… I'm sure that… I'll be able to work even harder!"

The tears fell freely on Matt's face as he smiled.

"That's right. You're with me, Gabumon. I'm… not alone."

"You understand me, Matt."

"Yeah. I have my friends… I have T.K., my dad… And my mom."

And the darkness that surrounded Matt began to fade. Now that the darkness in Matt's heart was gone, the black mist seemed to have lost interest in him and had gone to find other prey.

"Hey, Matt! Look!" Gabumon pointed at a shadow approaching them from across the fading black mist.

As it out around them, Matt saw the shadows of other people ahead.

"Hey!" A familiar voice yelled out. Matt and Gabumon turned to see Joe running right down the hill toward them. Gomamon and Theo weren't too far behind.

Once Joe stopped a walking distance from Matt to catch his breath, he started to laugh with relief. "See, look at that! I told you we'd find him!" he said to Gomamon and Theo.

"I never said we wouldn't!" Gomamon replied brightly.

"Same, it's more of him wanting to be found." Theo reminded him.

"What's all this about?" asked Matt.

"The whole time I was walking here, I kept telling myself that I'll be fine as long as I kept earnestly believing in the path I chose. We got here thanks to our hunches."

"I see." Matt smiled softly.

"Oh yeah, here." Joe then reached into his pockets to hand Matt his harmonica. "It's your harmonica, isn't it?"

Matt took it with humble gratitude. "Thanks."

* * *

In the meantime, Sora and the search team landed close to the end of the riverbank after having spotted the swan boat Matt had used.

Yet they found no trace of Matt anywhere.

"Onii-chan's nowhere to be found." said T.K.

Zaira shook her head. No premonitions.

_'Why? We can't leave Tai and the other girls, I've got to find him! I promised I promised I'd find everyone so that we could fight together!'_ Sora thought.

She didn't notice the dark substance forming at her feet.

"Sora! There's some black stuff crawling up your legs!" T.K. suddenly gasped in shock.

"Eh?" Sora turned to him when a dark hole opened, causing her to fall through with Piyomon flying after her.  
"Sora!" T.K., Dana and Zaira cried.

Their shocked yells had gotten the attention of those nearby. One of them sounded a lot like Theo, who was waving and running towards him as those with her.

"T.K.!" Matt was already running to his little brother.

"Where were you?" T.K. enveloped his brother in a hug "I was so worried about you!"

"I'm sorry!" Matt picked him up. "I won't just up and leave you anymore. You can trust me."

"Huh? Onii-chan, you look sort of different now. What is it?"

"Never mind that, T.K."

"Speaking of which, what're you all doing here anyway?" Theo questioned them.

"We came looking for you!" Dana explained.

T.K. then quickly pointed to a hole that was next to him. "Sora was pulled down that hole!"

"Sora is down there?" Joe ran up to it.

Matt and Gabumon's eyes widened with recognition.

"Matt, this is…"

"Yeah. This is the same cave that held us captive before."

"Held you captive before?" Zaira shot them an inquisitive glance.

"What is it?" questioned T.K.

They all started to climb downwards to find Sora.

"It's scary." T.K. confessed.

"It's okay. Don't be scared, T.K. Your fear will only agitate the darkness instead." Matt advised.

Finally they found themselves in a tunnel that Theo lit up with floating fiery orbs.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is what Azkaban feels like." Theo snarked.

"What's Azkaban?" asked T.K. curiously.

"The Wizard prison of the United Kingdom that's in the middle of the North Sea." The fire guardian replied grimly. "I hear the place is dark and spooky enough, but the dementor guards made it worse."

"W-what's a dementor? " Gomamon questioned.

"It's a hooded wraith about three meters tall, that naturally and gradually drains people of all happiness, leaving them with their worst memories." Zaira replied darkly.

The boys and their digimon shivered. T.K. gulped then he and Matt steeled themselves.

"And the only way to fight them back is casting the patronus charm that can be accomplished with a powerful happy memory." Dana elaborated, "Right now we gotta keep in mind our loved ones and the need to pull forward so we can make it."

"I hear voices over there." Patamon pointed.

"Let's check it out!" Joe urged.

"Sora!" Piyomon's voice was up ahead. "Sora, what's wrong? Sora, listen to me!" she turned at their approach. "You guys!"

"Sora, what's wrong? Get up!" Matt tried to pull her up but it was thought she were made of stone. "She won't budge!"

Not even the combined efforts the boys with the older girls helped.

"What's going on..." Joe said. "Why is she like this?"

"It must be Despair's work...this is a spell, so to take us out and make us miserable, so she can gain more power." Matt said heatedly.

"Sora's saying something." T.K. noted.

"I have to find Mimi… Joe and…Matt, the other girls… If I don't, our world is finished…"

"She hasn't been answering me." Piyomon told the ones watching. "All she does is mumble the same thing over and over!"

"Matt, Theo and I right here. Look up!" Joe shook Sora. But when the girl looked up, her eyes look faded and devoid of emotion.

"Joe… Thank goodness…" She looked over to Matt. "Matt is here, too…"

"You see?" Theo reassured her. "Everything will be alright."

Sora continued mumbled. "No, it's not. This isn't good enough. I have to get a better grip on myself… I have to save Tai and the others… or this world will…"

"Sora, you're putting too much responsibility on yourself!" Joe tried to tell her.

Matt spoke up. "Sora! All of you negative thoughts are turning into negative energy! The darkness within your heart is what's creating this cave!"

"R-Really?" Joe was surprised by Matt's revelation. "So that's why you told T.K. not to be scared."

"Listen, Sora! This dark cave is reflecting the dark feelings that are in your heart! You've got to throw those feelings away! Throw them out!"

"Those feelings…? What are you talking about?" She questioned.

"We're not fighting because we're obligated to. We're doing it because we _want_ to! If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. But I think it's because we've _wanted _to do this that we've come this far!"

"If I don't want to do it, I don't have to….."

"That's right! If you don't want to do it, then _don't_!"

Zaira sternly cuts them both Matt and Joe off. "Stop right there, both of you!"

"What?"

"'Not doing it if you don't want to'… that won't change the situation. No, that's just saying you can leave but never come back nor see Piyomon again. Like a plaster, sometimes you just have to suck it up and rip it off. It may initially hurt, but the pain subsides and the skin starts to heal. We are resilient to change."

"How is that helping?!" Matt yelled.

Zaira held up a hand. "Here's what I call harsh truth: Even if you turned and left everything here because you're too afraid of failure, both worlds WILL destroyed without your guidance."

"People and other beings suffer in the world today, and they're gonna suffer tomorrow too. However, right here and now, we can do actually something about it." Theo chimed in.

"I think that's why Beth, Theo and I were so hard on you sometimes. We try to help you all become better individuals. The point is, no matter what you do or where you go, you're going to have some form of responsibility or duty, you can't hide or repress or even run away from. You do it anyways because you know full well it's what right."

Theo admits, "We bug you guys about it endlessly because we care, and no one can afford to let you make the mistakes we did first. We're putting our faith in you, and we don't think - - we KNOW you'll survive because you're braver and tougher than you give yourselves credit for."

Theo reaches her hands to Sora, Joe and Matt do the same.

"We can do something about it… That's why we're here…!" Sora mumbled then she blinked and the light returned to her eyes. "We can do it! Yeah! You're right!"

"You have us, remember?" Matt reminded her.

The friends cheered and hugged each other in relief. And like that, the dark cave surrounding them vanished into thin air, leaving them in an open clearing.

"It disappeared!" Joe shouted.

"The darkness inside Sora's heart has disappeared with it." Matt explained.

"That was inside my heart…?" Sora was a little startled.

"Hey, Tai and the others are waiting for us!" T.K. recalled.

"Yeah." Joe nodded.

"Mimi and Yui will join us soon, I don't doubt that." Zaira reassured with a wink.

"Time to get back in the saddle!" Theo crowed.

"Yes, let's go!" Matt declared determinedly. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah!" Sora smiled.

* * *

Piedmon did a sweeping motion with his arm. A strong gale force carrying rocks blew towards Tai, Wargreymon intercepts it but it still affects the boy.

"Onii-chan!" "Tai!" the others cried.

Tai barked, struggling to get up. Get back! Take care of Kari!

Another attack sent me flying back once more and this time, Kylie along with him. WarGreymon took the full brunt of the attack, shielding them from a boulder.

Beth flapped her Enchantix wings once and bared her teeth. "That's it! I'm using that Troodon venom laced knife on him!"

She held out her right palm causing a sheathed dagger to appear. However as Beth took the hilt, Sara G stopped her arm.

"No, don't! Do that, and we might not be able to administer the antidote properly if anyone else get cut by mistake!"

"Tai, I know it's important to protect your sister. But if this keeps up, _you _will…!" Izzy tried to reason.

"He's terribly stubborn." Tentomon observed.

"It's okay! Call me stubborn or whatever you want!" Tai sat up. "Just… let me take care of this! I'll do something about it!"

"Are you crazy?! This plan isn't working! Matt and the others aren't here, now both Kylie AND WarGreymon are injured!" Sara G. yelled.

"Just tell me why you won't let me or the other guardians fight, too?!" Izzy cried earnestly.

"Final spell!" Piedmon then sent out a wave of electrical energy from his index fingertips that struck WarGreymon head on while adding collateral damage to Kylie.

WarGreymon fell on his back, his armor was destroyed in multiple locations and clearly leaking some sort of fluids from his tubes; and he wasn't moving. Kylie feel to one knee, trying to catch her breath.

The attacks Piedmon sent out must've damaged Tai to some degree as well, for he fell over whilst reaching out to his digimon partner.

"Now, who's next?" Piedmon turned to the others.

Zaira's voice taunted him. "Don't get too comfortable!"

"That's cuz there's more of us!" Theo's voice called.

In the distance, they were leading Matt and the rest minus Mimi to the battlefield.

Piedmon leapt up on a small ledge. "They make quite a late entrance. But no matter, the result will be the same either way."

Matt hopped off Garurumon and hurried to where Tai lay. He turned the other eleven-year-old boy on his back and lifted his head.

"So you caught on haven't you?! " Beth had said harshly to Matt.

"Beth!" Kylie began even as she groaned with the effort to sit up.

"Yes…. Alright! I should've come back! Maybe you – no, you were all right. I was…"

"Thinking of only yourself and tried to project your insecurity issues onto others. And accusing us of making wrong choices despite your own failings?" Beth guessed.

"Yes. You were right, I should've just come out and talked it over instead of letting it blind me."

"I know…" Beth said sternly then grinned cheekily. "I just wanted to hear you return and say it like you truly meant it."

Tai smiled up at Matt. "I waited all this time for you to get here. I knew you'd come. I believed you would."

Matt was teary eyed. "Thank you for believing in me. But I'm sorry I was so late. I just want to say… no matter what, you're all my true friends. I won't let our friendship die in vain!"

His crest glows. Garurumon is seen nuzzling WarGreymon, who is magically healed of his injuries as is Kylie, who stood up straight. From his spot Piedmon scowled balefully. "I'd planned on giving all of you a quick death…but if you enjoy suffering that much, I'll relish every minute tormenting you slowly."

Gabumon digivolved to MetalGarurumon. Together both Mega and Enchantix fairies threw out their attacks towards the Dark Master, disintegrating his swords in the process.

The Dark Master himself had jumped and avoid the attack, hovering in midair acrobatically then landed without so much as a scratch on him. "Well, it looks like I can finally enjoy a more stimulating battle."

**_To be continued…_**


	39. Piedmon's last jest

**Ch 39: Piedmon's Last Jest**

It's come down to this, two mega level Digimon and two fairies at full Enchantix facing off their final adversary.

"Get him, MetalGarurumon!" urged Matt.

"WarGreymon! All of this will be over once we beat Piedmon!" Tai reminded.

"Beth, Kylie, punch his face in! " Dana yelled.

"But _can _you beat me?" Piedmon laughed.

"We will!" MetalGarurumon growled, bounding forward.

A ring of fire formed in Piedmon's hands. It flew out past MetalGarurumon only to quickly shrink and close around his waist. The wolf cried out in pain, falling to the ground.

"MetalGarurumon!" WarGreymon ran up to his friend.

"This one is for you." Piedmon then informed.

Abruptly, the ground opened up and what popped out, left the fairies confused. For WarGreymon was now balancing on a four-foot sized ball like he was Russian circus bear. When he lost his balance, the jester was laughing maliciously.

"I'll give him something to laugh about!" Beth snarled.

"Don't think I've forgotten you two!" Piedmon smirked at the two Enchantix fairies, with a hand sweep.

Out of thin air at least four balls and a small explosive swept up in a circle until both Kylie and Beth were juggling the five objects. They were doing their best not to drop the explosive nor throw it anywhere near the others.

"Ahahahaha! I know how to make the ladies move," Piedmon sneered. "And for the next trick!"

Piedmon snapped his fingers, causing a tight rope to appear under the two girls, who scream as their lifted into the air. The two fling the bombs away, clinging to each to steady, as the bombs fell and exploded. The other girls barely dodging the explosives that erupted out of the objects.

"Come, come, ladies!" Piedmon chides, as he stands on the platform at one end of the tight rope. "Can't you even do a simple walk across the wire? If not, I'll cut you loose."

Piedmon slices the rope, the fairies scream, believing they'd plummet to the ground.

"Kylie...Beth...you can fly, remember?" Sora called out.

The two opened their eyes, which they shut from fright, and realized they were floating. Piedmon watched them in amusement, leaning on his sword with a cheeky grin.

"OH! YOU RANCID, PIECE OF..." Beth starts to shout.

"He's toying with us, Tai!" Izzy states.

"It's no surprise," Tai said in worry. "Kylie just killed his mother...he wants to make us suffer, and he's so powerful..."

"Yes, that black blood of Despair," Matt said. "We'll need to hold off on backup, until we can gauge how high his power truly is..."

"And then we act," Tai said.

"Enough play time," Piedmon states. "Now, to put an end to what I should've done years ago, Sirene's heir. And fulfill my mother's dying wish!"

Piedmon throws out his blades at the fairies.

"TRUMP SWORD!" Piedmon yelled.

Kylie yelps, when the purple, glowing kiss mark of the dark specter queen appeared on her forehead. The swords turned into sunflower, and fell to the ground.

"What?" Piedmon gasped in shock.

"GAIA FORCE!" WarGreymon yells out, and hits Piedmon with his powerful attack.

The jester is sent flying.

"This is it!" Tai called out. "Everyone evolve, and charge him at once!"

"All right, everyone! Use super evolution!" Izzy said.

"Wait!" Andromon suddenly said.

Piedmon had suddenly pulled out a white handkerchief. The jester then pulled out a needle and thread, quickly sewing hair locks into a bunch of white handkerchiefs, spelling out the fairies names.

"What is he going to do?" Joe questioned. "Give the sign of surrender with that?"

Before they could react, Piedmon hurled out the handkerchief with Sara G's name on it, and the guardian of water yelps. The others scream too, as Sara G seems to shrink under the handkerchief.

"Sara G!" Theo runs over and pulls off the handkerchief. "Wh-AHHHH!"

Theo backs up in horror, for in Sara G's place is a keychain doll identical to the water guardian.

"Sara – No way!" Theo yells, bending over to pick up the doll.

"Theo, watch out!" Haruna cried out.

She summons a vine, and pulls Theo away as a sword nearly impales her, as Piedmon leaps over to snatch up the doll.

"The game is over!" MetalGarurumon roared, he and WarGreymon charged.

"I would not be so certain." Piedmon smirked. He quickly throws another cloth which grows into a huge sheet that covers the Mega Digimon. Tai and Matt are also covered with a sheet when they ran to their partners.

"Brother!" T.K. and Kari cried out for their older siblings.

"Oh no!"

"What have you done them?!" Izzy cried.

"Why, they're right here." Piedmon opened both his gloved hands to reveal they have both been turned into key chain figurines.

Sora gasped. "Oh no, he's turned them into dolls too!"

"That's right! As a reward for putting up a good fight, I've made them a part of my favorite collection. However, I've a more preferable plan for the anointed leader of the guardians." Piedmon shot Beth an alluring glance which she responded with a nearly animalistic growl.

"See, I'm ordinarily, unable to enchant you fairies like my mother, even she would have trouble changing your forms." Piedmon leers as he holds up the locks of hair. "But first rule of magic, never let the enemy get a hold of your hair, or true name. Now who's next?" The jester taunted.

Mechanorimon's hatch popped open and Gennai peered out from inside. His face shone a brilliant red against the incandescent flames that shot out from the 'Wall of Fire.'

"So this is the 'Wall of Fire'…" Centaurmon said next to him.

The thick open book in Centaurmon's hands was a transcription of the "Digimon Book of Revelations" that was carved as an epitaph in the ancient Dino ruins' walls. "I never expected to see the 'Wall of Fire' with my own eyes. To speak with you frankly… I had thought that it was more of a symbol and that it didn't really exist."

"That's because Spiral Mountain has been formed," Gennai responded with a bitter look, very unlike his usual easygoing expression. "It was originally hidden deep beneath the Digital World thanks to the four Holy Beasts, but it's been laid bare now with the heavens and earth absorbed into Spiral Mountain. Still, this is bad news. The flames look like they are weakening. At this rate, the wall will be wide open."

"What happens when it opens?"

"Don't ask me that. I don't even want to think about it."

Gennai shook his head, looking as though he had sucked on a particularly sour lemon.

They were in a corner of empty sky far away from Spiral Mountain. Where emptiness surrounded them was a round circle, with bright crimson flames gushing out along its edges. Like a lid, the flames covered the hole that linked the Digital World to another world on the outside.

"But according to what you said… It seems that at least one of the beasties has escaped through this hole."

"I wouldn't call it a beastie. At the very least, according to the old scriptures, it's known as an Idea without a material body."

"Well, that's what the myth says, but… Either way, it is an evil being?"

"For this world it is. The Digital World as we know it wouldn't have existed in the first place if it hadn't rejected that idea."

"Hide in that cave!" Andromon shouted.

The children fled with the guardians herding them into the cave like Andromon ordered.

"Andromon!" Sora cried.

"I will stop him! Spiral Sword!"

Piedmon deflected the attack and swung at the robot with his swords. The two Digimon clashed and Andromon made good use of his armored arms, which were was strong enough to deflect the sword strikes but the difference in levels was great.

Dana tugged at her sister's arm, "Beth, you can't let him get you or the Heart!"

Beth replied grimly, a small glow of pink was seen and she gently pushed the Heart into Dana's hand. "He won't, that's why I'm leaving it in your hands. Without the heart his victory won't mean a thing."

At that moment, Gatomon and Gomamon stopped at the edge of a thick chasm that was pitch black at the bottom. There was a cave on the other side with large curtains and draperies around it and the top. And the only way across were the multiple trapeze ropes.

"Wh-What is this place?" Tentomon questioned.

Sora observed. "It's looks like a circus ring."

Zaira shuddered at the view of the chasm. Even with wings, her acrophobia lingered.

"If we go through that cave up ahead it'll take us to another area." Izzy noted.

"But how do we get there?" Joe asked.

"You'll have to swing yourselves through the air using these!" Tentomon explained then landed on the rock platform on the other side.

"We could just carry you all across." Dana suggested.

Kylie agreed then looked to Gatomon. "Gatomon, you take Kari and T.K. first. We'll get the others."

The cat digimon nodded firmly. She motioned for Kari to hold on. "Kari, hold on tight!"

"Okay!"

Gatomon then leapt and grabbed the first swing before she let go and grabbed the second one allowing them to land on the other side safely. T.K. was up next and jumped on the rope while Gatomon hung from the second to get him to safety. Patamon flew following close.

"We're next." Beth turns to Sora. She easily picked up the fifth grader as though she weighed no more than a toy doll.

"I'll carry you." Kylie said to Piyomon picking the pink bird into her arms.

Thus the two fairies carried them to the other side to join Kari and T.K.

"Go, Gomamon!" Joe urged.

Alright, here we go! Theo scooped up Gomamon into her arms and carried him across.

Joe and Izzy were the only ones left for Zaira and Haruna to carry.

"You won't be going far." Piedmon walked right in, and dangled Andromon as a keychain doll.

"Andromon! Go, Izzy!" Joe shoved Izzy into Haruna's arms before Piedmon threw another twisted handkerchief.

It landed on the older boy, Zaira had raised her hands but met with the same fate.

"Joe! Zaira!" Izzy was in tears calling out their names.

Haruna placed Izzy on the first trapeze swing and swung him forwards. She glared angrily at the jester. "Roots and vines the monster will bind!" she intoned, casting a spell. At her command, thick green and brown shoots pushed up through the stone floor and twisted toward Piedmon, trying to entwine him. The jester chuckled and sliced the vines into tiny, useless chunks.

The moment he did so, another handkerchief was thrown on both Haruna and Izzy.

"How dare you do that to Izzy!" Tentomon angrily charged Piedmon only to be captured too.

"You see I'm capturing you one by one! It's useless to run." Piedmon taunted.

"Come on, this way!" Dana fluttered down the hall in a shimmer of glittering sparkles, followed by the rest.

The guardians strode along the corridor with their young friends. They hurried into one empty room…

"Oh my!" Sora gasped.

A imposing, large painting covered the far wall of the room, Lady Despair was featured in it. She was lounging on a couch, petting a dragon with one hand, while she held some snakes in palm of her other hand.

"Whoever painted Despair must have had a strong stomach," Kari remarked.

"And no sanity," Dana added.

Piedmon held up Izzy's doll. "Oh, what's this? you can't stop crying even after you've become a doll? You must be lonely without the rest of your friends. Just wait, you'll all be together soon." He took one great bounding leap across the chasm without flinching.

The group had fled into an empty chamber and hid under the floorboards, from where they could hear the Dark Master walk in.

"I've told you, it's useless to run. Why don't you give in to your fate and come out quietly?"

The heroic group kept still holding their breath.

"That's odd, maybe they aren't in here."

"It sounds like he went into the next room." Sora whispered.

Suddenly, a sword went right though the boards and nearly stabbed Theo, Sora and Kari!

"Look, I've found you!"

Three more swords nearly impaled T.K. Dana and Patamon.

"Come on out!"

"We're done for!" One of the group cried.

"No we're not!" Sora insisted.

"But you may be soon enough!" taunted the Dark Master.

"Fat chance!" Theo burst out of the floorboards, her fists in flames.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon's attack knocked one of the swords out of Piedmon's hand.

Garudamon, Angewomon and the fairies urged the children to escape while they could.

"Shadow Wing!"

"Atomic Blaster!"

"Pele's wrath!"

"Winter Rose!"

"Psionic butterfly!"

The attacks failed to hit Piedmon who threw a handkerchief over Garudamon and pinned Angewomon to the wall, Beth rushes out to shield her from handkerchief.

"YOU WON'T HAVE HER!" Beth screams, preparing another attack. "She's Kylie's sister too!"

"Such nonsense!" Piedmon huffed. "TRICK ROPE!" He lashes out his hand, and a rope shoots out from his frilly cuff, wrapping around Beth, and spinning her towards himself.

"I think a lovely lady like you shouldn't worry about 'lesser creatures,'" Piedmon said in seductive tone. "And should be adorned with jewelry befitting her, allow me to swap out the Heart of Etherea, with this!"

Piedmon holds up an amber jewel like locket, and touches it to the struggling Beth's forehead. A flash of light, and Beth was gone, and shown on the front of the pendant. She was banging on it, frantic to escape.

"That'll hold you, until your more acceptable to the idea of being my queen," Piedmon snickers with a leer. "Perhaps after a few hours imprisoned you'll be more kindly disposed toward me. Especially if you wish for your siblings to remain in one piece!"

"Run Kylie!" Angewomon urged.

Kylie screamed in horror, seeing Angewomon turned into a key-chain doll along with Garudamon.

"NO! NOT MY LITTLE SISTER!" Kylie screamed.

Sora and Dana had to pull her further into the hallway to escape. They'd emerged from under some ceramic tiles then looking around, Sora looked to them sternly.

"Listen carefully, there's no doubt the others have been turned into dolls. You three are the only ones who can protect Kari, do you understand?"

"Yeah. " T.K. said uncertainly the mastered his courage. "I'll protect Kari at all costs! Let's go, Kari!"

"Okay." Patamon, Gomamon and Kari followed him as they ran to a pair of double doors.

Kylie turned to the youngest guardian. "Dana, go with them."

Dana gasped. "But Kylie, he'll kill you!"

Sora shook her head. "No Kylie, do whatever it takes to get you and them away from here."

Gomamon decides to stay with Sora to fight back. She tells him, he stands no chance against the demon jester and to help T.K and Kari, along with Patamon.

"Don't use your time wisely I see. It's only a matter of time before you become dolls yourselves."

"That won't happen!" Gomamon snatches the figurine of Matt and throws it to Sora, who throws it to T.K and is then turned into a "doll" herself.

Kylie, Dana, T.K, Kari and Patamon escape through the door at the end of the corridor, while Gomamon (off-screen) is turned into a figurine himself.

Kari shivered. "W-what should we do?"

T.K. urged. "We've got no other choice but to climb down!"

Dana glanced over the balcony. "At this height?"

Patamon then finds a basket filled with rope that keeps going up like something out of 1001 Arabian nights.

Just as the two little kids were climbing up with Dana flying nearby to give them support and Kylie helping them up, the door is blasted open by Piedmon!

"Finally, your good luck runs out, Daughter of Sirene!" Piedmon hisses, as he holds up the handkerchief.

Kylie backs away, hitting the ledge of the balcony, and finding nowhere to go, her magic nearly gone.

"Now, as My Mother and Siblings perished..."

"No!" Kylie gasped.

"SO SHALL YOU!" Piedmon screams and hurls the handkerchief at the fairy.

"Kylie!" Kari, Dana and T.K. shrieked.

Kylie screams, and covers her head as the handkerchief fell over her body. And…there was a high pitched, whining sound was heard, before purple flames engulfed the handkerchief. And there was Kylie, unchanged, and something purple was glowing from her head.

"The mark of the Enchantress of the Seven seas," Piedmon growled. "So, you really are protected! Well, even if I can't kill you, I can restrain you till you starve to death, with the Digital world is mine to claim and use to bring my mother and siblings back! And as for the brats, so as my Mother perished, so SHALL THEY TOO DIE!"

"Not so long as we're around!" Dana snapped.

"We'll stop Piedmon!" Patamon digivolves into Angemon to try to fight him off.

Dana impulsively flies down to assist him after discreetly giving the heart to T.K. Angemon blocked Piedmon's sword thrusts with his staff while Dana evades them.

"Springtime gust!"

"Miserable little pest!" Piedmon snaps, and does a twirling spin to slash and slice at Dana, who barely manages to dodge.

"Dana!" Angemon hurls his staff, and it catches in the blades, causing Piedmon to drop them.

"You...you killed my brother, Devimon!" Piedmon hands crackled with red electricity. "ENDING SNIPE!"

Piedmon blasts at them, Angemon shields Dana with his body, screaming in agony.

"DANA! ANGEMON!" Kylie screams as she throws herself into the path of the lightning.

The purple mark on her forehead glows and a shield that looks like a starburst is created, negating the attack.

"That accursed protection!" Piedmon hisses.

He sees the two eight-year olds climbing up the rope and lunges to chase after them.

"Stop!" Kylie calls out, and tries to chase after him.

"Trump swords!" Piedmon shouts out again.

All the swords surrounded Kylie, Angemon and Dana, keeping them trapped.

"Nooo!" Kylie screams.

T.K. was trying to keep it together to keep Kari calm. "They'll be ok, just keep climbing."

Kari agreed but the top of the rope is cut off!

Piedmon was already climbing the rope himself, "I thought I told you there's nowhere left to run." He grabs T.K. by the right ankle. "See I caught you."

Kari then grabs T.K.'s hand.

T.K. cried. "Kari let go of my hand or he'll get you too!"

Kari refused. "No, I'll never let go!"

"Then you shall fall together!" Piedmon cuts the rope part under T.K. causing the two children to fall.

As they're falling, T.K. clutches the keychain form of Matt, he is reminded that hope remains.

"I won't give up. I'll NEVER give up! If we die, this world and our world will both be destroyed! That's why we can't give up no matter what!"

His crest begins to glow and Angemon finally digivolves into MagnaAngemon, he looks like a suited-up version of Angemon. He has a retractable light-saber type sword, and what looks like a purple bishop's mitre on his head that still covered his eyes.

who catches the two falling children with Dana and Kylie. Then places them safely on the ground.

The archangel flies up to deal with Piedmon, who throws a sheet at the former. MagnaAngemon slices the sheet in two and delivers a single slash to Piedmon using his Excalibur sword, recovering the jewel and the keychains then sends Piedmon hurtling away, seemingly to death.

MagnaAngemon then returns every key chain into the Digimon, fairies and Humans they once were using his "Holy Antidote" ability - his wings glowed like a rainbow that enveloped the dolls changing them back within seconds. Beth emerges from the jewel, dazed.

Kari and T.K. ran to their siblings in relief

"T.K.!" Matt hugged T.K. "Thank you! You did great!"

"You helped by encouraging me!"

Matt was confused. "Huh?"

"I thought you were lost to us!" Kylie said after hugging Beth.

"For a second, I thought so too." Beth hugged her sisters and gave Dana light punch. "Nice one lil' sis!"

Dana smiled. "Thanks, but we'd have been goners if we lost hope."

Tentomon was amazed by Angemon's digivolved form. "Whoa, when did you evolve? You look really cool!"

And to their shock…

"Do you honestly think so?" Piedmon's voice echoed. He was walking in their direction looking baleful. "I intended to be merciful and keep you as dolls instead of killing you, but you must _really _want to die! Very well! I'll give you what you wish for!" With a wave of Piedmon's hand, an entire army of repulsive-looking flying digimon come out of the ground.

He'd summoned a herd of Vilemon, and the all-out war between Chosen ones and Piedmon's army finally began.

"There is no opening where we can escape." Izzy looked around.

"But we won't lose!" T.K. said sternly

"Yeah, we'll show them!" Matt said.

"That's right! With the Guardians, Chosen Children and their Digimon working together, these freaks are nothing!" Tai agreed.

Beth nods, Okay girls, it's time to crank it up!

"Wait! Don't forget us!"

Approaching fast was Mimi riding Unimon and Yui flying towards their direction, and they'd brought the cavalry!

"Thank goodness! We made it just in time!" Lilymon said in relief.

I'll say! Yui grinned.

Ogremon then pummel some of the Vilemon away. "The enemy's in swarms, but we can take 'em on! I'm itching for a fight!"

"All right, guys! This is our last battle! Attack!" Tai ordered.

The fairies transformed and the other Chosen children's digimon digivolved to join in the fight with their newly arrived comrades in arms, blasting away the Vilemon and even taking on the final Dark Master himself. He'd nearly used the keychain doll trick on Yui and Lilymon but this time Angewomon was prepared.

"Celestial Arrow!" Her attack cut through the handkerchief rendering it useless.

Each of the eight guardians got their chance to fight as well. Once they beat Piedmon, this battle would be over. They could stop the danger that was falling over the Digital World and human world.

"H–How dare you…!" Because Piedmon's face was hidden behind his mask, it was hard to tell what his expression was, but his voice was clearly quite shrill.

"Gate of Destiny!" MagnaAngemon swept his sword hand in a circular motion, creating a large golden door.

"What's that?" Tai asked.

"It's opening!" Kari pointed.

A large vortex sucking the Vilemon through the golden gate.

"All evil beings are sucked into the dimension beyond the gate and buried there." explained MagnaAngemon

"What?" Piedmon snapped.

"You're going down!" Beth snarled. "And this was for imprisoning me and hunting after my sisters!"

"Let's end this!" WarGreymon said.

"Yeah!" MetalGarurumon agreed.

Beth, Kylie, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon dashed towards their opponent.

"Gaia Force!"

"Cocytus Breath!"

"Psionic Butterfly!"

"Winter's Rose!"

The special attacks hit Piedmon. Their attacks send him screaming right into the Gate of Destiny. It disintegrates, and Piedmon is no more! Most of what's left of Spiral Mountain disintegrate too.

A rainbow of magical energy shimmered down upon the area, and the final part of Spiral Mountain final receded with the defeat of the Final Dark Master. Sirene has finally been avenged.

"The last remnants of Spiral Mountain are disappearing! The dark masters' control over the digital world is finally gone!"

"And good riddance!" Beth shook her fist at where the Gate of Destiny disintegrated.

Kylie smiled wiping a tear. "It's over, Mother."

"I'm sure she's very proud of you." Matt said to her gently.

The Digimon Mimi had gathered cheered for them all. But most surprisingly was the presence of Ogremon. When Tai noticed, Mimi and Yui smiled.

"Oh, yeah, a lot of things had happened since we separated." Mimi began to explain. "The thing is…"

"Huh?" Izzy suddenly received a message from his computer. "I have a message from Gennai."

"Maybe he wants to congratulate us." Sora guessed.

"Great time to pick now, after all we've done for the geezer." Tai said nonchalantly.

"That can't be!" Izzy gaped.

"What is it?" Dana questioned, looking over.

"As suspected our true enemy isn't the Dark Masters."

Everyone was shocked. What does he mean by that?

"Aside from Lady Despair's influence, the existence of our actual enemy itself is what caused the distortion in this world, and the Dark Masters only gained their power from those distortions."

"Then, who's…?" Tai demanded.

The whole ground soon began to rumble beneath them. A bright red light exploded from Piedmon's fortress and the sky darkned once again.

Who was this mysterious enemy? They were all about to find out.

**_To be continued…_**


	40. The Final Dark Digimon

**Ch 40: The Final Dark Digimon**

The battle was not over yet. The ground crumbled from beneath their feet, causing the heroic group to fall into the darkness with the Digimon and the fairies following close behind to try and save them. Barely a minute went by before they all stopped to float in midair.

"We've stopped!" Joe cried.

"Tai! Are you okay?" WarGreymon asked.

"Yeah."

"Where could we be?" Izzy looked around.

Everything looked as though they were levitating the middle of star field. There was a beeping nopise from Izzy's laptop, he opened it to see Gennai on the screen.

"This darkness is probably endless."

"Hey, what's the deal?" Tai snapped.

"We defeated the Dark Masters!" Matt shouted.

"That's what I don't get, we defeated them so why is everything still a bigger mess than when we left it?" Beth inquired.

"Because you haven't defeated the source that has brought forth all of the evil in the first place. This source of evil came from the Wall of Fire."

"Could it be the mastermind that controlled the Dark Masters besides Despair?" Sara G. asked.

"You could say that, but then again, maybe not. To be quite frank, I don't know. But what's certain is that it is our enemy." Gennai responded. "Inscriptions were found on the walls of the Ancient Temple Ruins, and this is what they say. 'Long ago, something appeared from the other side of the Wall of Fire, which is located deep within the Digital World. Solely by existing, this creature has warped the fabric of space-time, and it had almost brought this world to total destruction. The Digimon could not beat it with their own power, and so Sirene called upon Chosen Children from Earth to help them eliminate it.'"

Everyone was dumfounded.

Tai stuttered. "Then that means…"

Joe gasped. "So there were Chosen children before us!"

"Then the reason why we were brought here is because something came out of the wall of fire again, right? And that's our true foe!" Sora figured it out.

"There was also a prophecy written among the inscriptions in the Ancient Ruins. It said that, before long, a large darkness will enter this world from the Wall of Fire once again."

"A large darkness…" Matt mumbled.

"You mean this darkness?" Yui pointed above her head.

"Are you saying this darkness is the enemy's actual form?" Tai asked.

"But how are we supposed to fight living darkness?" Kylie questioned worriedly.

"I'm sure it also has a physical body. Fight with caution, children!" Gennai said before his image started to static out.

Tai griped. "How do we fight when we don't even know WHAT we're fighting!"

"What did he mean anyway? Is this creature different from Digimon we fought before?" wondered Joe.

Izzy theorized. It's existence itself is likely to be fundamentally different from what we are used to.

Matt was determined. "We can still win! Children just like us defeated the same creature a long time ago!"

Everyone wholeheartedly agree, then they heard some strange sounds echoing all over.

"Whose voice is that?" Kari nervously asked.

"It's creepy." Mimi feared.

"It sounds like it's coming from everywhere." Angewomon informed.

However, it wasn't just one voice. It was the voices of countless many, with an echo to it.

"_Yes, listen to the lingering remnants of our regrets…_"

"Regrets?"

Haruna glanced around wildly. "Who is that?"

Theo tries to joke around, "Where are yooouuu….?"

Out of the darkness, emerged a shape. Like a tetrapod, it had polyhedron-shaped protruberances with double-helix chains dangling out of them, ending in curved cranes.

Her destruction only banished Lady Despair from the Digiworld for a spell but not vanquished, however she was grimly determined to avenge the deaths of her vicious offspring.

"If I can't have the nymph's precious realm, then I'll have it wiped out and start on another!" Lady Despair raises her scepter, and beams shot out of the skulls eyes into the sky. "I call you from the pit of hate, Chaos brood, sorrowful and irate! I call you forth with darkest power, Apocalymon now is your Hour!"

Back in the human world, the people down in Odaiba had been watching the spiral mountain that, moments ago, had been floating up in the night sky disappear. Now they can see the figure floating in the skies above them before the Chosen ones appeared in full view.

On top of one of the protuberances stood a human-like creature wrapped in a pitch-black cloak. He thrust his cloak open, revealing his dark blue body. His fingernails were sharp and frightening, and he wore a black mask over his face, showing only his yellow eyes. He had no legs, but rather, the entire top half of his body was attached by cables to this giant cube.

"Who are you?!" Beth cried.

But the human shape kept silent.

"Answer me! Who are you?! " Beth asked again.

The human shape opened its mouth. "Goooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh!"

A massive low-frequency sound pressure rippled through the air, turning into an impact that assaulted the children and their Digimon.

"…This feels gross!" Mimi said, grimacing.

It was as if a rotten-smelling mucus had been coated onto their skin.

"What do we do?" Zaira asked.

"You're asking me?" Not even Tai knew if what stood in front of them was a friend or a foe.

Izzy stared at the figure. "This is the Digimon that appeared from the wall of fire?"

"Are you repulsed by my appearance?" The creature – which Izzy identified as Apocalymon- asked.

The guardians are taken aback as were the children.

"It takes time to sugarcoat that question..." Yui squeaked, tugging at the edge of her suit collar.

Kylie gulped and admits, "True, but it's not my intention to harm anyone out of spite."

"Don't be afraid to hurt my feelings, young nymph, they're already hurt. You see, we are, after all, the ones who were thwarted through the evolution process."

Izzy questioned. "Evolution process? What do you mean thwarted?"

"Digimon have continued to evolve again and again throughout the years. Did you know there were some among them who disappeared?"

Izzy was the first among the children to understand their meaning. "But that's inevitable. It's to be expected that some lives will disappear during the evolution process. Some may not have been able to adapt to their environm—"

Apocalymon interrupted him. "Silence! Inevitable? You think that a single word can put an end to this entire matter?! Are you telling us that we are unworthy of life?"

Matt frowned. "What are you getting at?"

"Are you saying we have no right to live?"

Izzy shook his head. "No, I'd never-"

Apocalymon continued, "Yes, we are the digimon who have disappeared through the evolution process. The resultant buildup of thoughts that have cursed our sad and hateful fates!"

Sora asked. "You were created from the dark hearts of the Digimon who disappeared?"

Dana looked at the being akin to pity. "Oh . . . you poor thing."

Apocalymon finally addressed the group. "Dear guardians, Chosen children and digimon, we've been looking forward to meeting all of you."

WarGreymon froze in place. "What?"

MetalGarurumon was equally take back. "What do you mean?"

Apocalymon then began lamenting. "While we lay buried within a deep darkness of utter coldness and sorrow, we watched all of you on the other side, enjoying yourselves and laughing happily in the warm light! IT IS AN INJUSTICE?!"

Electricity lances out towards the group, throwing everyone backwards a few meters.

****Tai did a quick head count. "Is everybody okay?"

"I think so."

"I'm okay, Tai."

Beth confirmed. "We're fine."

Apocalymon raised his claws upwards. "What have we done to deserve this?!" He sinks his long claws deep into his shoulders, until green blood began to slowly flow. "Why did you enjoy laughter while we cried and suffered?"

Mimi covered her face and turned away. "No, I can't watch!"

Apocalymon continued in spite of his own wounds, "We too can cry and feel emotions. What law is it that banished us? It's something we will never forget! We wanted to live and speak of friendship, justice and love! We wanted to be helpful to this world!

Are you saying this world had no need for us? Or do we mean nothing to it?"

Haruna cried. "But we had no idea! Honest!"

Kylie began to feel that Apocalymon deserved to be pitied. While they had been spending their time laughing joyously within the light, the multiple lives that made up Apocalymon had been denied to exist. If their lives had been placed in darkness and left to die out, then that was too sad.

"Can't we talk this out?" asked Mimi.

Then Kylie said, "Yes, if you wish to co-exist with us in the Digital World, then maybe we can help."

Apocalymon closed their mouth for a moment. They seemed to be studying the suggestion. Then, after a time, they said: "You will help us?"

"Yes, you can tell me anything." Mimi felt relief that her feelings had reached them. If they had only talked it out to begin with, she also thought, others wouldn't have had to die. However…

"Then come to us! There we shall live together! Within us!"

Mimi was taken aback. "I'm sorry what?"

Beth shook her head, making a face. "He can't seriously expect us to mate with-"

Theo elbowed her. "No! Not like that! As in, they want to absorb us!"

"I–I can't do that," Mimi said hurriedly, shaking her head. "If you want us to fuse with you guys, then I don't mean that! There must be some other—"

But even before Mimi could finish, Apocalymon's double-helix chains sped towards her.

"Look out!" Lilymon tackled Mimi, barely escaping the danger.

"Hey! Listen when someone's talking to you!" Beth yelled angrily.

"It is useless to speak to it." Zaira shook her head.

Then Apocalymon turned his sights to each one of the guardians. "You guardians of the Veil call yourselves unfortunate — but none of you know the true meaning of the word! Oh, to love another with all the fury of one's soul; to regret not being a vaccine or data or another creature; to have her figure haunt your dreams and thoughts night and day— You put us under your spell and then you deny us! We fall in love with you only to have our hearts ripped out and our souls crushed! Torture us with one hand, but caress us with the other!"

The guardians looked grim.

"OK, now this is where I put my foot down!" Yui said sternly. "You can vent all you want but trying to make us feel bad with the old manipulative card? Not cool, dude!"

Zaira said seriously the creature, "You're the one who doesn't even know what love is."

The self-inflected wounds on Apocalymon's arms heal.

Izzy informed them. "It has self-regenerative abilities!"

"And in our sorrow, in our anguish and hatred," Apocalymon seemed to smile. "SHE came to us, she promised to give us a way to live...our data, and her blood. We would have...children, so to speak."

"Our Devimon."

"Our Etemon."

"Our Myotismon."

"Our Dark Masters."

"And Our Lady. All you destroyed, depriving us of our chance to live!"

Apocalymon is merely an Idea. An idea that rejects "evolution." In other words, it is the very essence of the idea to "not evolve." While it is true that there are those in the Digital World who have disappeared through the evolution process, they get reconstructed as different species at the Village of Beginnings. However, what remains is their feelings of regret. This thing absorbed those lingering emotions as its nourishment in order to form its physical body. Apocalymon is merely buying time. It is letting the Digimon that it has absorbed to speak their grudges in order to prevent anyone from disturbing its preparations to reset the Digital World.

"Then we shall rule this world! We shall make this place belong to us! All who get in our way will die! May the light be forever cursed where it shines!" Apocalymon intoned.

One of his claws morphs into MetalSeadramon's head, and it's attack fires, shooting straight at Kari. Angewomon shields her, taking the full blast.

"Kind and gentle children and guardians, that was sign of our friendship. The next is love! Crimson Lightning!"

Another claw forms the shape of Myotismon, and it swings it's red energy beam at Mimi. Lilymon flies in to take the attack.

"Justice! Giga Cannon!"

This attack is aimed at Sora, but Garudamon steps in and shields her.

"Could it be- It can use all of the attacks of the Digimon we've met!" Izzy theorized.

"But then that means we have to face the combined powers of every Digimon we've ever fought!" Joe worried.

"Does that mean we can't win?!" Sora feared.

"Guys! Don't let that thing get to you! Get back into position!"

"We can take it on!" Theo rallied.

"We just have to work together!" T.K. decided.

"That's right! We can't pull back anymore!" Matt reminded.

Apocalymon sneered. You haven't seen yet just how terrible I can truly be.

Suddenly the claws took all the guardians and the eight digimon. The claws glow, then the captives are released. In place of the 2 megas and 6 ultimates are each of the Digimon in Rookie stage while the Guardians have changed back.

"T.K., Dana, I'm sorry." Patamon apologized as he flew to the youngest members.

"It's not your fault, Patamon." T.K. assured him.

"But we can't win like this." Kari expressed her fears.

"Don't give up!" Gatomon said sternly.

"It's okay! We can still fight!" Gabumon cried.

"If we just evolve again…" Tentomon said.

"That's right! Evolve one more time, guys!" Joe ordered.

"Leave it to us!" Gomamon assured.

"I'm a little hungry, though…" Palmon complained.

"It's okay! Just put some spirit into it!" Agumon assured.

"We're counting on you, everyone!" Gabumon shouted and everyone nodded.

Kylie urged. "We can do this!"

Tai reaches for his digivice. "Everybody get your Crests ready!"

"Death Claw! " From one of the metal claws emerge several smaller claws, which snatch the tags and crests from each of the children before destroying the precious items.

"Our Crests!" Tai shouted.

"They're destroyed…" T.K. said in disbelief.

"Now we can't make them evolve!" Sora cried.

"Oh, how are we to defeat him?"

It was Gennai and the other agents working for Homeostasis who had made the Crests. With each step in making the Crests, they had put into them their hopes that the Crests would one day save the Digital World. And now, those Crests, their hope, had been destroyed.

Apocalymon said, "I see you are beginning to understand the despair we had felt from being unable to evolve."

Joe yelped. U-unbelievable our crests are gone!

Mimi asked. "How can we win against him if we can't evolve?"

Izzy put his hands into his hair with anxiety. "We just can't! With the combined powers of all the Digimon at his command, he's the strongest enemy we've ever faced! Child level digimon could never defeat him no matter how hard they try!"

"That can't be! There's got to be a way somehow!" Tai hollered.

Matt wondered. "How did the Chosen children before us defeat this enemy?"

Sara G cried. "I wish we knew! I'm afraid that even this is out of our jurisdiction!"

Suddenly Apocalymon had stretched out his claws and began muttering something in another language. Everyone begins dissolving into tiny bits of data, from the feet up.

"Oh no! Our bodies are being taken apart and turned into electronic data!" Izzy said in fear.

Everyone had begun to scream in fright.

All this was viewed in the mirror form of Mira, the golden handmaiden of The Dark Spectre Queen, and her Silver one, Keller, was standing next to Vanessa. Both seated on a couch, holding each other's hands, anxious at what they saw, even Mira's golden frame was trembling over what she saw and was showing.

"This is even worse then I predicted," Vanessa said in low tone.

"Can nothing be done?" Keller asked.

"We can pray, and when they get back on this side, give them all the healing and love they can swallow." Vanessa said.

The heroic group has been broken down into data, and they suddenly find themselves in an expanse of white with nothing but zeroes and ones flying through the air.

"Where are we?" Tai asked.

"The world of information." Izzy believed. "All of us have been broken down into data!"

Kylie gasped. "Extraordinary!"

"Broken down?! Can we be un-broken down?!" Mimi questioned fearfully.

Zaira sighed. "Doubtful!"

Dana said calmly. "This doesn't look anything like the Other world afterlife…"

"I don't know."

"What will happen to us if we can't turn back?!" Joe worried.

"Are we finished?!" Kari feared.

"I don't know. It's the first time this has ever happened to me!" Sora said. "What should we do?!"

"Have we… lost?" Tai mentioned the words everyone had feared.

"Is everything over?" Matt dreaded.

Theo shrugged. "At this rate there's no doubt the bad guy's done his dirty deed."

"Don't get discouraged!" Agumon tried to reassure.

"Agumon…" Tai said.

"I'll fight to the bitter end!" declared Gabumon formly. "So don't lose hope!"

"That's right! There were many times we thought it was all over, but we always stuck together and fought through it thanks to our courage!" Piyomon recalled.

"Yes, but we've been disintegrated into data!" reminded Sora. "Forget about beating the enemy, we don't even know if we can turn back into our human forms again!"

"Even if we did, they can't evolve without our Crests!" Joe yelled.

"This has never happened before. How does one deal with having one's data dissolved?" Izzy said thoughtfully. "No one knows!"

Tentomon asked. "So tell me Izzy did you always know how to win in all those battles you've faced?"

Yui noted. "That's right! There's always a lot of firsts in an adventure!"

Harun admitted. "We never knew what we had to do during all those other times!"

Joe confessed. "You're right. All this time - I didn't know a thing about the Digiworld. There was always one thing after the other that it almost made my heart stop!"

Gomamon said. "But because of you and everyone else, Joe, we were able to squeeze through it together!"

Joe said wistfully. "At first all I could think about was getting out of that place as soon as I could…but ever since I got here, I've experienced so many things that I could never learn through textbooks."

He remembers where TK almost drowned, but Joe jumped in to save him. As he sank in the water, his Crest glowed for the first time…

Yui smiles. "I remember one adventure when I was forcibly separated from the other girls, I was afraid I wouldn't be as strong as when we were together. Who'd have thought it would take a showdown with the friends I've made against a beast from another dimension!"

Mimi informed. "I remember that there also a lot things I didn't like and things that made me cry."

Dana accepted. "When I first became I Guardian I had the same problem with the harsher stuff I saw."

Palmon asked her. "Are you glad we became friends?"

Mimi nods. "I feel like I've become stronger because I met all of you."

She recalls the frightening situation when the adults and kids took a stand against the Bakemon in the convention center. The time her crest glowed.

Dana pipes up. "That's right. There were loads of times when I was told I was too little to do anything, but I knew if I just believe in myself no matter what anyone said!"

"Before I met you, T.K., I thought I didn't need to digivolve." Patamon said to his partner. "But…"

He remembers how he digivolved to Angemon for the first time.

T.K acknowledged. "Me too. Because I met you, Patamon. I learned how important it is to fight for what you believe in."

Haruna says, "Or by learning that sometimes the right path isn't the easiest to follow, even when the whole world may turn against you for it. And yet, it must be done regardless."

Piyomon kindly said to her partner, "You've always been so sweet to me, Sora."

"Piyomon…"

"Everyone loves that part about you."

Beth sighs. "Years of carrying the heart seemed like a burden, but now I see its privilege. I carry the very essence of the strength and emotions of all sentient beings from Magix and many others. That's why it chose me . . . because I'm stronger than I seem."

Tentomon spoke up. "Izzy, I learned a lot by being with you. Well, there were a few times that I felt hurt when you never saw past your laptop. But that's still another part of you that I like."

Sara was the next to speak. "I once felt that school and everything else didn't seem challenging enough - but then I soon understood that knowing a lot isn't enough to make you truly wise. Everyday you learn something new about the world, everyone and yourself."

"Matt- "

Matt gently cut him off. "You don't have to say anything Gabumon, I know."

Zaira smiles sheepishly. "Once upon a time, I didn't believe dreams can come true. but now I see that with a little faith, hard work and your friends, anything can happen! Even take down megalomaniacal wizard!"

"I guess everyone kept telling me this and Beth for along time - The wrong type of pride gives bad advice and never losing sight of what's important in life." Theo recalled.

Agumon called out. "Hey Tai, when we're together we're invincible right?"

Tai grinned. "You got it!"

Kylie said, "Since I was a child I was bullied to the point that I believed that I wasn't special at all. But when I first spread my wings as a guardian I knew then that my true self had come shining through!"

Gatomon insisted. "We can't let ourselves be defeated here. If we do, then what was the point of my search for Kari or the discovery of my origins this whole time?"

Kari smiled. "Gatomon."

"I've been waiting so long for the day when I could meet and protect you. I will always be there for you and for Kylie."

Kylie nods. "Thank you, Gatomon."

It was good to see Gatomon bore Kylie no ill will despite everything. Everyone was counting on them back on Earth, it had to be done.

"If I hadn't met Gatomon…" Kari said.

"If I hadn't come to the Digimon world…" Joe continued.

"If I hadn't gone on an adventure with everyone else…" Mimi believed.

"We wouldn't be who we are today!" Izzy cried.

Theo acknowledges, "Boy, I know!"

"You're right! Because our Digimon were always with us…" Matt remembered.

"Because our friends were with us…" Haruna agreed.

"Because we understood the importance of helping each other out…" Sora realized.

"We were able to stay true to ourselves!" shouted Tai.

Beth encouraged, "We ALL got stronger after everything we've been through together."

"That's right! We can't let things end here!" Tai insisted.

"We can't let our adventures go to waste!" Sora believed.

"For our encounter with our Digimon and the friendships we've made…" Matt reminded.

Dana stated, "And for the sake of those we love!"

"Those waiting for us back on Earth…" Izzy added.

"We…" Mimi said.

"All of us…" added Zaira.

"All of us…" T.K. determined.

"We will never look back anymore!" professed Joe.

"We won't let the light within our hearts die out!" Kari declared.

"For our encounter with Digimon, magic and the friendships we've made…"

"Together we can do this!" Kylie urged.

T.K. said determinedly. "We're ready!"

"We'll never look back anymore" professed Joe.

Kari declared. "We won't let the light in our hearts go out!"

Right at that moment, the symbol of the Crest of Hope glows through TK's shirt. One by one, the glowing symbols of the children's Crests appear on their chests.

Agumon gasped. "It's your crests! The symbols carved into your crests were the virtues you carried all along!"

Tai guessed. "You mean like, in our hearts?"

"Just like the knowledge inside of me… and the sincerity within Joe… If we continue to act upon the special qualities of our hearts, then our Crests are unnecessary to us!" Izzy figured.

"No, you're wrong."

Everyone looks at Matt, startled by his blunt remark. But the blonde boy was smiling excitedly.

"It isn't the friendship inside of me that suddenly started glowing! All of your friendship gathered inside me, and that's what caused my Crest of Friendship to glow! Just like the Heart of Etherea!"

Beth quickly understood what he meant. "Hey, that's right!"

"One crest for everyone…and everyone's crest for one!" shouted Tai.

"Then the light inside of me is for everyone!" Kari folded her hands in front of her heart. Light formed in front of her, taking on the same shape as her Crest of light.

"Gatomon, super-evolve to… Angewomon!"

"It's like…" Watching her, Joe could feel his heart singing, "I can see the light of hope!"

This time Joe folded his hands together. The image of his Crest of Sincerity appeared. Hope didn't belong to T.K. alone, nor did light belong to Kari alone. Hope and light also existed in Joe's heart. Like a catalyst, it boosted T.K.'s hope and Kari's light, and Joe accepted with sincerity that hope and light would bring about miracles. That was why his super-evolution was achieved.

Matt gazed at the front of his heart. _I feel it… I feel the power of friendship…_

It was visible to the naked eye. Delicate beads of light came out from within Matt, gathering into the shape of his Crest of friendship. When he traced the lines of the beads of light on the outside, he could see that it was also overflowing from the other children.

_Everyone's friendship… I can feel it gathering inside of me…_

"Gabumon, warp-digivolve to… MetalGarurumon!"

The Crest of one person's heart was not only stimulating everyone else's hearts. The Crests of everyone's hearts were stimulating one person's heart at the same time. The individual spiritual traits that they possessed were mutually influencing each other. One after another, without a Crest, their Digimon achieved super-evolution just like the guardians transformed to Digix while Beth and Kylie to Enchantix. Then, at last…

"Tai! Give us your courage!"

"We'll give you ours!"

Tai nodded silently. Everyone's courage was gathering within Tai's heart. His courage, as well, bubbled up from within him.

"Agumon, warp-evolve! WarGreymon!"

And regenerating like a quickly built puzzle, everyone reappears back in front of Apocalymon.

Dana cheered. "Hallelujah, we're back in the game!"

Apocalymon was greatly surprised. "What!"

Tai yelled. "We're not gonna let you get away with it!"

It was time to end this once and for all!

**_To be concluded…_**


	41. Two Worlds, One family

The fight against the last enemy has begun. Apocalymon roared at the chosen children. "Impossible, how did you evolve without your crests?!"

Matt countered proudly. "You're in big trouble if you underestimate the Chosen Ones!"

"Especially if the guardians re involved!" Beth crowed.

Tai agreed. "Got that right! Now… let's go get 'im guys!"

"YEAH!" Everyone threw their fists in the air.

They all charged towards their opponent with renewed confidence.

"Die!" Apocalymon snarled, hurling the claws at them. It was Joe with Zudomon, and Mimi with Lilymon, who were in charge of destroying the double-helix chains that were rushing towards the four strongest of their group. Zaira, Sara G. and Haruna counterattacked any other claws that tried to take out their comrades in arms.

Mimi had to hold Lilymon's hand but she said, "Let's help them Lilymon!"

"Right!"

Then unexpectedly Lilymon tosses Mimi up into the air.

"What? What're you doing-?!"

Lilymon then uses flower cannon on the claws then catches Mimi's hand in the nick of time.

"How could you do that to me?!" Mimi whined.

Lilymon grins, "Well I AM your digimon after all, Mimi."

"And just what do you mean by that?"

"Don't worry, we'll sprinkle fairy dust so you can fly on your own!" Yui joked.

"Can you do that?" Mimi gaped.

However, there were so many chains that they also rushed upon the group. Fortunately, Yui, Theo and Dana joined Kari with Angewomon, and T.K. with MagnaAngemon, covered for them, cutting off the chains' with their own powers.

The rest aimed for the human-shaped part of Apocalymon's body. Apocalymon used the data of the Dark Masters that he had absorbed to recreate their finishing moves and attack them. Right now, Machinedramon's cannon appeared bubbling up like mucus from the surface of its protuberances, ready to fire the Mugen Cannon.

"Horn Buster!"  
"Shadow Wing!"

Izzy with MegaKabuterimon and Sora with Garudamon pulverized the cannons. Beth and Kylie flew on ahead. Tai rode on WarGreymon's shoulders, as Matt rode on MetalGarurumon's back. They hurled their finishing attacks on Apocalymon's human shape.

Tai yelled. "Finish it off!"

Matt hollered. "Take this!"

"Go to H- I mean Tartarus, and take your chums with you!" Beth shouted.

"You'll never harm my realm again!" Kylie cried.

MetalGarurumon, Wargreymon and the two Enchantix fairies struck and the human shape shattered into pieces. All of Apocalymon's chains were also cut down. The group was certain about their victory. In a white flash, Apocalymon was destroyed, as were all of his claws. But the dodecahedron still remained.

Beth snapped. "We got you beat!"

Kylie insisted, "It's best if you surrender!"

But Apocalymon, whose existence was originally an Idea, only needed a physical body to reset the Digital World. It was not affected by the loss of its physical form in the least. It had steadily been preparing for the big bang within its body all along.  
After the big bang, Apocalymon planned to rule the new world that was created out of it by becoming its god. It wanted to become the god of a dead world— a world that fully denied evolution, growth, movement— all sorts of transient processes in exchange for silence and stagnation.

"You think you've won?" Apocalymon laughed as smoky shadowy shapes leaked out of the glowing rolling shape. "Is that so? Perish we shall. But we won't go away quietly! We will drag you and this world down with us! Watch! Our ultimate finishing blow: Grand death big bomb!"

Apocalymon's body burst. In the place where Apocalymon had been was dark space filled with a subzero frigidity that was felt by all five senses. That dark space shrunk momentarily, and then came the big bang. An unimaginable shock wave headed towards the heroes.

_"It self-destructed!"_

_"Is this the end for us?"_

_"I don't want that!"_

_"It's not the end!"_

_"This challenge isn't over yet! "_

_"It won't end._

_"I won't let it end."_

_"We shall overcome."_

_"Because…"_

_"There's…"_

"Always a tomorrow worth fighting for!" The group all cried out.

Kylie removed the gift, Piximon had given her, holding it close. Her eyes glowed a gentle bluish-white, with it the children's digivices glittered brightly. Then with the magic that is only known to those who were gifted, each digivice floated up and gold beams of light shot out from the screens. Each symbol of the elements glowed combining with the lights, creating a large cube enclosure to seal Apocalymon within. The lines of light formed a perfect cube that enclosed the big bang, Kylie moved it with her hands like a conductor before a grand orchestra and swept it away into the distance where it shrunk and vanished in a blinding flash of white light.

"What happened to the explosion?" T.K asked.

"It was sealed away with the power of our digivices and the elements." replied Izzy.

Tai gasped, still finding it hard to believe. "So that means we won!"

"Sure we did!" Beth playfully punched him.

A shell-shocked Joe almost stumbled forward in relief, "We were able to prevent…"

Sora smiled, "The destruction of both worlds!" It still hadn't struck her that it was all over, but the anxiety that had been tightly built up within her had loosened and tears were streaming down her face. Sora didn't notice.

To their surprise, Ogremon is seen running over to them. "You did it! You guys are really something else!"

Mimi posed with a grin. "Oh, you think so?"

Andromon was there holding Elecmon. "Thank you very much, I mean it. "

Izzy felt sheepish. "Oh, there's no need to thank us."

It was at that moment that Andromon and Elecmon noticed Kylie, they kneeled into a bow of respect. "My Lady, we're in your debt."

"Please, that's not necessary." Kylie said humbly. "I honestly couldn't have done it without my friends here."

"Ogremon, bow before the daughter our guardian nymph!" Elecmon scolded the ogre digimon.

"Oh right." Ogremon grumbled with an eyeroll but kneeled before Kylie anyway.

* * *

Back on Earth, the Digimon illusions vanished, the people there could tell that the menace to the Digital World had been vanquished. The empty space of the Digital World that had covered the skies was gradually fading away to a light, night sky.

In Odaiba, the families of the Chosen Children and the guardians shook with emotion as they watched the sun rise. Some hugged each other, some whooped with cheers, some raised their clasped hands up to the rising sun in prayer. Well, Mimi's mother was crying unashamedly.

Just before the Digital World disappeared from the skies, Shin Kido murmured his thanks to his brother and his friends who had worked desperately to save them. "Great job, everyone."

"I'm proud of you all." Omri Pantheon smiled thinking of his three daughters.

* * *

Gennai flew towards them, piloting his Mechanorimon. "The combined power of your digivices and the guardians' gifts have contained it! It seems your world is also saved."

T.K. questioned. "So what's gonna happen to the Digimon world now?"

Centauromon, who'd arrived with Gennai, motioned. "Take a good look below you."

In that empty sky, the first place in the Digital world where the children had landed on, File Island, was reconstructing before their very eyes.

Centaurmon spoke. "File Island is small but it contains various terrains and climates because it was originally known as the "Island of Beginnings." That name originated from records of when the Digital world was first created. It's like a miniature copy of the entire Digital world, so to speak. I learned of this by deciphering the inscriptions of a different part of the Ancient region. The Digital world is being recreated now, once more, using the data of File Island as its base to create a new world."

They all looked down in time to see little white orbs dissipating to show something beneath them as a viewing portal.

"It's File island!" cried Haruna.

"The Village of Beginnings, right?" Mimi asked, to which Gennai gave a resounding nod.

"Yes."

"New Digimon will be born!"

"Hey, let's all go check it out!"

They arrive at a newly restored Primary village. And many digi-eggs began falling from the sky much to the delight of Patamon, T.K., Dana and Kylie. They rushed in to the center with Elecmon running after them "Hey, wait for me!"

The Village of Beginnings was recovering its youthful vibrancy. Multiple Digieggs appeared on its cushioned ground, waiting for their rebirth.

At the beginning of the world, when the Digital world was still in chaos, the Digital world chose the idea of "evolution."  
By deciding that this process would involve the Digital world itself "evolving," it created Homeostasis for that necessity. Homeostasis mainly worked on minute security detail within the Digital world. Because Homeostasis was a system and did not have physical form, it created Gennai and others as autonomous agents (called "Agents") to act as its arms and legs. But for the source of magical energy that helped fuel it's progress, Sirene had arrived to keep it in check.

Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin. It is when light and darkness are at equilibrium, that the world is stable and balanced. Homeostasis functioned to keep that balance equal, so whenever the powers of darkness increased dramatically, it needed to stop them in order to keep the balance of the Digital world from collapsing.

And in the human world, four years ago, a single Digiegg flew through the gate into Hikarigaoka. It was an unexpected— Or, perhaps, fateful accident.  
That Digiegg hatched into a Digimon who "evolved" to Koromon, then Agumon, then Greymon. Such rapid evolution was unthinkable in the Digital world.  
It was a little human girl named Kari Yagami who had caused the evolution. They didn't know what it was about Kari that accelerated "evolution."  
Homeostasis sent Parrotmon to Hikarigaoka to retrieve Greymon. At that time, they scanned the data of that curious young girl and, for comparison purposes, also scanned the data of her brother Tai beside her along with the data of all humans who had witnessed the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon.

Homeostasis used a group of its Agents to analyze the data set they had obtained. The result was their discovery that in each child existed unique spiritual traits such as courage, friendship, love, knowledge, purity, sincerity, and kindness, etc. These qualities were not about whether they already possessed them or not, but that they had the hidden potential for it.  
Kari's trait (and Kylie's element), however, was different from them all. It was like the presence of the power of "life" itself. It had the same meaning as "evolution" for the Digital world, or maybe even the same meaning as "truth" and "beauty." As an umbrella term for the source of life, they called this trait "light."

Elecmon declared proudly. "Yup! A lot of Digimon will be born from these Digi-geggs! The future of the Digiworld is just beginning."

Kari picks up one egg, listening to their conversation and joins in patting and snuggling the eggs to make them hatch.

Ogremon sighed. "Now Leomon will be reborn again."

Mimi was surprised. "Really? does that mean Piximon, Whamon and the others will be, too?"

Gennai confirmed. "Yes, someday."

Andromon then suggested. "How about we take a picture to commemorate the occasion, everyone?

Yui nods. "Sounds good to me!"

A few minutes later, they were all gathered in front of Andromon's eye camera, making poses.

"OK, go ahead!" Tai indicated.

Theo joked. "Everybody smile, say Calamari!"

Then the egg Kari is holding begins to move. "Huh?"

POOF! There was a cloud of pink smoke meaning the egg had hatched - right when the camera flashed! Just as the shutter went off, the Digiegg that Kari was holding in her arms popped open with a puff of white smoke, changing into a Botamon tucked in a cute cradle.

"It hatched!"

"Who could it be?"

"Maybe it's Leomon or Whamon!"

They all watched lovingly over the baby Digimon.

Suddenly, Ogremon said, "Well then I'm off! I've got no business here anymore. I'm gonna go travelling!"

Palmon questioned. "Why? Stay with us! "

Ogremon declined "No way, you think a proud virus as myself can stand hanging with you data and vaccines?" He added to Kylie, "No offense."

Kylie shrugged. "It's quite alright. goodbye and thank you!"

Ogremon then departed towards the horizon, "I'm so outta here. See ya!"

Theo and Yui waved a goodbye. "Take care of yourself Ogremon!"

Gomamon sighed. "Geez, he just won't admit that he likes us."

Mimi tried to go after Ogremon as he barreled away, but Joe stopped her. "Let him go. We need to accept that everyone has their own way of life. That sort of life suits Ogremon the best, I'm sure."

Tentomon stated. "I can never get along with viruses."

Gennai lectured him. "Now don't say that. Back when Agumon evolved to Skullgreymon, I did say he evolved wrongly but by that I meant it wasn't the evolution meant for your purpose. There's nothing right or wrong in an evolution itself."

Agumon crossed his arm in thought. "Oh, so then the next time I digivolve it will be virus attribute."

"NO!" Everyone screamed suddenly.

The guardians and Digimon companions are surprised by their own sudden outburst, look sheepish then the kids end up laughing.

Until now, time in the Digital World passed quicker than time on Earth. In terms of Earth-world time, the Digital world had only been born recently. Perhaps its rapid flow of time was what caused the real world to try and catch up to its "history" from the big bang to the present time. Because of it, the Digital world as a world before now lacked stability. This was the reason why other worlds invaded it so easily, as well as why it influenced the human world. The Dark Masters' "restructuring" of the Digital world actually helped it to increase in stability. What's more, the scale of the computer network in the real world had rapidly expanded the past few years, and there were more personal computers in use as terminals. Both sides must have satisfied enough elements of some sort, because time in the new Digital world was now synced with the real world.

It was an indication that the Digital World had proceeded into its next steps, as both signs of its own evolution and a new era for the humans living on Earth.

Of course, no one was told the meaning behind this. The knowledge of this was not conveyed to Homeostasis, which was simply a security system, much less to a mere Agent like Gennai…

But even Gennai was able to sense that the flow of time had changed. Tai and the others still thought that time passed differently, so they were thinking about continuing their adventures in the Digital World until summer vacation was over on Earth.

Soon everyone was back at the lake where Gabumon had become Garurumon for the very first time.

Joe mentioned. "A lot had happened to us, but all's well that ends well right? We can go back to our own world with pride! Maybe when we go back, they'll treat us like heroes! All of the reporters coming after us and stuff…"

He stops when he sees everyone's somber faces. The reporters and all the questions from both the No Maj's and magical dimensions, they're going to have a lot of explaining to their ministries too.

"Joe…" softly scolded him.

Joe backtracked. "Oh no, I think I said something wrong. But hey, even if we go home, we can always come back and-"

"Joe…"

"Er. Oh yeah, it won't work out even if we do come back. The flow of time is different between the worlds so won't know if we'll be able to see each other again… sorry."

Matt suddenly brightened. "We still have a lot of time left for summer vacation right? I'm thinking of staying in this world until vacation is over."

"You already have my vote." Kylie smiled.

T.K. agreed. "If Matt's staying then I am too."

Sara G jumped up. "Count me in!"

Kari asked. "So am I - that's ok right?"

Everyone agreed to stay.

"That's right. If we consider one day in this world to be the equivalent of one minute in our world, and we have four weeks of vacation…" Izzy calculated.

"Leave the math calculation to me!" Joe offered. "Let's see… 40,320 days… That makes it about 110 years!"

Mimi gaped. "That long?!"

Theo grinned. "Then I say we start a new adventure!"

Beth cheered. "Well I'm game!"

Tai declared. "Alright then let's go, to our new adventure!"

"Agreed!" Everyone shouted.

A solar eclipse was taking place above File Island right now. It was actually the gate to the real world, and it was going to close in two hours. There was no telling when it would open again next. That could take several years or even hundreds of years.  
Gennai and the Digimon had to return the Chosen Children and the guardians, the heroes who had saved their world, to Earth before that gate closed. Only Sirene's child had the choice to either stay or return.

Although he was heartbroken, Gennai mustered up his courage and broke the news to the group who had no idea about this and were excitedly planning their next adventure…

Theo accompanied Sora and Piyomon.

"…When you're back in your world, say hi to your Mom for me," Piyomon said cheerfully to them as they sat on the branch of a large tree in the forest of Dragon's Eye Lake.

Theo smiles sadly. "Will do."

Sora nodded earnestly. "OK, I want to thank you for that Piyomon. I've misunderstood my mom this whole time…but because of you, things between us are all right now. I'm sure I'll be able to get along just fine with her from now on."

"Really?"

Sora gazed at Piyomon with a gentle smile and said quietly, "Really."

Theo winked. "I know so!"

"If that's really true, then I'm so happy!" Piyomon flapped her pink wings widely to try and convey how happy she felt. "I thought that I was only a bother to you because I kept depending on you."

Sora suddenly pulled Piyomon into a tight embrace. "That's not true, you never caused me trouble, Piyomon."

She must have thought that Piyomon would be sad if she showed any tears. But Piyomon heard and felt the shaking that came through in her voice and body, so Piyomon hugged Sora back just as tightly. This way, she would always remember how she felt and how she smelled…

Theo gently patted Piyomon. "We're gonna miss you so much."

By the Lake, Joe is throwing rocks into the lake despondently with Yui and Gomamon. They'd avoided looking at each other directly. Instead, they looked at each other's reflections on the quiet lake surface in front of them.

"I might not have been a good match with you, Gomamon, but I had a lot of fun," Joe said.

"Me too. Anyway, good luck on your studies when you're back in that world. And I mean it for you and Yui." He clapped Joe on the shoulder.

Yui nods. "Sure thing."

"Yeah!" Joe nodded without hesitation, and then held out his hand to Gomamon.

"Hm? What?"

"Let's shake hands."

"Huh? Okay."

Gomamon wiped his flipper on his furry side like a towel to rub off dirt before holding it out, to which Joe said, "Huh…"

Gomamon looked at him blankly. "What?"

"I just noticed - it really _was_ a hand."

Yui was close to laughter. "Oh Joe! You- c'mere!" She pulls him over to give him a playful noogie. Gomamon looked annoyed for a brief moment, but his frown changed immediately into a smile.

When he had first met Joe, Joe had been a really straight-laced guy who couldn't even make a single joke. But now…Gomamon laughed. Joe laughed. They looked at each other and laughed even more. They could see the tears falling from the other's eyes, but neither of them brought it up.

Izzy discussed with Gennai and Andromon that they would need a vehicle of some sort to return to the real world, and they decided on using the scraps of a single train car that was on the narrow sandbank dividing the lake.  
While Gennai and Andromon were attaching propellers on the outside, Izzy with Sara G's guidance, was sitting in the conductor's seat of the train car, inputting Odaiba's location into its destination.

Next to him, Tentomon watched happily at Izzy's hands as they skidded skillfully across the pad. Suddenly, the boy's hands stopped. With a meek look on his face, Izzy said to his partner in a choked voice, "Te–Tentomon…"

Tentomon knew that Izzy was about to say his goodbyes to him and replied back a bit tearfully, "Izzy…"

But his parting words were: "I've… really…I've really imposed upon you greatly. "

Tentomon falls over with the reply. Sara G and Izzy went to pick him up. "Tentomon!

"Ahh~ To the very end, you speak to me as if we're strangers!" Tentomon retorted.

Izzy had also thought that there was a different way, but when it came time to say it, he ended up speaking in his usual tone of voice. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. But what are the right words for me to say at a time like this…?"

Sara G replied, "Izzy, that's something for you to look within your heart, cheesy as it may sound to some."

"Hmm, that's a difficult question. But I don't think you need to push yourself to search for the right words. It's fine to speak formally. I'm sure that one day, there will come a time when you can say those words naturally." Tentomon said this and gripped his partner's hand.

Izzy returned his grip and said, "Do you think so? I hope so too…"

Sara G reassured. "They will in time."

Tentomon nodded silently. And, within his heart, he said: _Do your best, Izzy. You couldn't have it with me because we lacked the time, but I hope instead that, one day, you will have a natural conversation with your father and mother in the human world. One that's just like a conversation between a blood-related child and their parent…_

In the grassy fields T.K., Patamon and Dana are crying their little hearts out.

"Don't cry!" Patamon said, who was also crying.

"But… But we won't see each other anymore!"

"That's not true! Your world and my world have the same time now, so there will be a day one day when we see each other again."

At his words, T.K. blinked. "Really?"

Dana wipes her eyes, "You really believe that?"

They look at each other with teary eyes.

"Really!" Patamon nodded. "We met again after Devimon."

"Yeah. That was because I believed we would see each other again."

Dana added. "And kept wishing for it."

Patamon nods. "Well keep on believing!"

Dana tears changed into a warm smile and she held out her hand. "Then let's make a promise, the three of us. We'll see each other again!"

"Then, let's meet again. It's a promise." T.K. placed his hand on hers. Patamon grabbed their hands with both paws in agreement.

Matt and Gabumon sat somberly next to each other at the bank of the river with Zaira. Neither of them spoke. Were they going to go their separate ways without ending up saying anything to each other? Because he didn't want that, Gabumon mustered up his courage and spoke first.

"…Hey, Matt?"

"…Yeah?" Matt looked at Gabumon's face.

"Could I listen to it again? Your harmonica."

Matt said readily, "…Okay," and nodded.

His harmonica played a sad melody filled with grief. Zaira let it sweep over them and thought, _There's no need for words._  
In Gabumon's heart, he felt Matt's feelings, that were more than words could ever convey…

The wind carried Matt's music to where Tai and Agumon stood with Beth. Tai grumbled low under his breath, "Matt, you moron."

"What's wrong?" Agumon asked worriedly at Tai's sudden mood.

Tai secretly wiped away the tear that had unexpectedly rolled down his cheek and turned back around, forcing a cheerful smile. "It's nothing."

"Oh."

Beth said nothing she only sat quietly. The place they were in was memorable to the both of them, and Agumon pointed at a spot on the dirt. "This is the place, right? Tai. This is where I used my Baby Flame to light the firewood."

"Yeah, that's right. That firewood burned Seadramon's tail and that's what made Seadramon mad."

"Huh? That was my fault?"

Tai admits sheepishly. "No, it's because I poked the fire. Ahahaha!"

Agumon and Beth glowered at him. "TAI!"

Beth calmed down. "Look afterwards, I'm really gonna miss all of you even if I did sometimes come down hard on you lot."

Tai shrugged. "No worries, no matter what anyone says you'll always be a princess to us."

And they end up laughing about it.

"Here," Kari said, held out the whistle that she wore around her neck to Gatomon.

Gatomon blinked up at her in surprise. "Are you sure?"

Kari crinkled her adorable eyes and said, "Yeah." And she placed the whistle herself around Gatomon's neck.

"Thanks."

She knew that Gatomon was concerned about how childish she might look to others with a whistle around her neck, so Kari complimented her. "It looks really good on you."

"You think so?" said Gatomon, blushing. "Well… Take care… Kari."

Gatomon tasted each word of goodbye carefully in her mouth as she said them. She thought Kari might burst into tears, but instead, Kari smiled and nodded. "Yep. Until next time."

"Next time?"

"Yep, next time."

Gatomon blinks confusedly. The confident way that Kari said it bewildered Gatomon, but she felt fortunate that Kari hadn't cried.  
If Kari had cried, then Gatomon would have definitely cried as well…. Which would have been fine, but Gatomon felt that wasn't in her own nature.

Several feet away, Kylie pondered on her decision on whether to stay in the Digiworld to help rebuild the realm her mother helped flourish under Gennai and the Digimon's guidance, or return home so that she could properly recover from the heartache of her star-crossed romance with Myotismon.

Kylie seemed to be determined to stay in the Digiworld, for a split second. Kari looked at her in concern, knowing such a choice could have its own investigation not only with authority figures but with her adoptive family.

Gatomon took a deep breath and looked to Kylie. "No. You have to go back."

"I've only gotten to know you in so few days, I can't leave you or the Digiworld."

"You never will."

"You're sisters, nothing will ever change that." Kari reassured.

Within a forest that was lined with nonsensical traffic signs, Mimi shouted out her partner's name as she walked.

"Palmooooon! Palmooooon!"

When she came upon the Geckomon, she asked them, "Did you see Palmon?"

When one of the Geckomon answered, "No, we haven't."

"Oh…"

She looked sad. When the Geckomon asked her what was wrong, she said, "I can't find Palmon anywhere. Oh, where did she go? There's not much time left… Palmoooon! Palmoooon!" And she walked off again, searching a different place.

The solar eclipse was going to end soon. While Gennai and Andromon were preparing the train that would take the children to Earth the children came grouping together after they had finished saying their goodbyes to their Digimon partners.  
Each of the children came with their Digimon except for Mimi accompanied by the guardians. Mimi was by herself, crying softly. Sora was comforting her.

"Have you all finished saying your goodbyes?" Gennai called out to them. "We're pretty much finished here too. Go on, everyone on board."

"Well…" Sora glanced at the crying Mimi and said hesitantly, "We want a little more time. Just a little!"

Kylie looked to Gennai. "Please Gennai, can't you do something?"

Gennai shook his head. "I'm sorry, the portal cannot wait. What's wrong?"

Inside the woods, Palmon looked up sorrowfully at the solar eclipse. "Mimi…"

There, the Geckomon arrived. She hurriedly tried to hide in the bushes but the Geckomon had already spotted her. They called out,  
"Ah, there you are ribbit."

"Mimi was looking for you ribbit."

Palmon gave up on running away. "I know… But I don't want to see her," she said in a small voice.

Not knowing why, the Geckomon asked her, "Why not ribbit?"

Palmon shouted wildly in distress, "Because! It's painful saying goodbye if we see each other! So… It's better if I don't…" and she trailed off into sobs again.

The Geckomon waited for her to calm down, and then asked, "…Is that for the best gecko?"

But when Palmon didn't answer, they pressed her again.

"Is that really what you want gecko?"

"Are you sure you won't regret it later gecko?"

Palmon hung her head and began to argue with herself inside her heart.

"Well, guys. Take care," Tai said for all of the Chosen Children.

"We won't forget you." Kylie said fondly.

Outside of the train car to see them off were Agumon, Gabumon, Piyomon, Tentomon, Gomamon, Patamon, Tentomon, Gennai, Andromon, Centaurmon, Elecmon carrying the newly born Botamon, along with Meramon, Yukidarimon, and the crowds of Digimon who Mimi, Theo, Yui and Joe had brought with them.

Speaking for all of the Digimon, Agumon said back with a smile, "You guys, too!"

As if to brush away the trailing, lingering aftertaste of their goodbyes, Gatomon blew the whistle that Kari had given her.  
_Triiiill!_  
The steel tower standing on the sandbank sent electricity through its power lines to the pantograph on top of the train car. The train began to move slowly towards the gate that looked like a solar eclipse. Towards the human world.

"Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

Everyone waved each other goodbye…

While everyone was looking down from the windows and waving reluctantly goodbye to the Digimon, Mimi sat apart from them alone, sobbing into her hands. Sora glanced over at Mimi and wondered if she should speak to her. But she didn't know what to say to comfort her.

Just then, Mimi abruptly stood up from her seat and threw open the window closest to her, sticking her head out and shouted. "Palmooooon!"

At the lake shore that they could see below, Palmon was running while wildly waving her arms. "Mimiiiii! Mimiiiiiii!"  
Agumon and the other Digimon were also behind Palmon.

"Mimi! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She frantically apologized to Mimi with a voice hoarse from crying. But of course Mimi knew how Palmon felt.

"It's okay! It's okay, Palmon! Goodbye! And thank you!"

As Mimi waved wildly back, her arm jostled her pink ten-gallon hat. It fell off her head and disappeared, carried off by a clear breeze…

Palmon suddenly trips Mimi gasps as her hat flies off and into the breeze. Palmon recovers continues running after the trolley soon followed by the children's Digimon. Mimi smiles warmly while the guardians other kids continue to wave. Kylie blows them a goodbye kiss once the Digimon reach the shoreline, where they stop but wave and cry their goodbyes.

The car flies up into the air with pixie dust and disappears into a portal from the Digital World.

Near the Village of Beginnings, in an empty prairie, the alarm on the railway crossing rang loudly. Ogremon, who just happened to be there, looked up and stopped walking. Mimi's ten-gallon hat came floating down from the air like a leaf. Ogremon tried to catch it, but a sudden gust of wind picked it up again and stole the hat away.

Somewhere in the skies up there, Ogremon understood, the Chosen Children with the Guardians and Sirene's Heir were heading back to Earth at that very moment. And, turning his eyes up to the sky, he mumbled something under his breath before continuing to walk again.

The skies of the Digital world, in its blinding brightness, were as vivid as the August sky in the human world…

* * *

Surprisingly, the rest of their summer vacation ended quickly. Sora quit the soccer club and began to learn the basics of flower-arranging under her mother's tutelage. Matt grew more involved with other people, searching for the best way to express himself in his relationships. Izzy began doing more active work. First, he created a computer club for the elementary school.  
Joe decided that he did want to become a doctor after all. He couldn't forget about the Digimon who had died before his own eyes.  
Mimi had her parents buy her a new hat, one with the same design as before. T.K. stopped crying easily.

However one thing they all had in common was that the eight guardians soon became either their tutors in magical subjects or occasional babysitters. Kylie had become a frequent visitor to the Kamiya household while Dana and T.K. exchanged emails to chat.

From her lighthouse, Vanessa watched with a fond smile. She knew that the children, their Digimon and the guardians would always remain close friends. She knew that many more adventures still awaited for both the children and the guardians, but the gate to the Digital World would open again much sooner than they all thought.

And it would be May in of the following year but that was of course another story altogether…

**_The end… for now._**

* * *

Author's note: Finally I've finished it! Now onto the other fics I've wanted to write besides the obvious unfinished ones in my section, expect more lots fics involving the eight girls in the future.


End file.
